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Jan. 1, 2024 - Fresh & Fit

02:09:08

How To Scientifically Burn Fat & Build Muscle w/ Menno Henselmans

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	Thank you.
	And we are live.
	What's up, guys?
	Welcome to Fresh Air Podcast, man.
	It is Monday.
	Today we're going to be talking about how to get in shape for the goddamn new year, man, with Meno Hanselman's.
	Let's get into it!
	Let's go!
	Let's
	go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
	Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
	If you need an apple, never touch the fire.
	Of course.
	Alright, and we are live.
	What's up guys?
	Welcome to Fresh Fit Podcast, man.
	It is Monday.
	Normally we do money Mondays, but today's going to be a muscle Monday.
	We're going to talk about fitness, man.
	How to get in shape.
	The number one New Year's resolution is to get in shape.
	So we brought in an expert.
	Actually, pretty much a scientist, guys, in this space.
	One of the authorities.
	We got mental in the house.
	But real quick announcements before we talk about that.
	Roma.com slash Fresh Fit.
	As you guys know, if we ever get canceled, you know exactly where to find us.
	Because we make all kinds of content, man.
	Podcast stuff, IRL stuff.
	The IRL stream did awesome yesterday.
	You guys really enjoyed seeing us.
	You know, on the yacht.
	Even me.
	You saw me on the yacht, and you know I hate partying, so I was out there.
	Fresh was in his natural element.
	He was doing great.
	We had a great time on the boat.
	But it was fun.
	And don't worry, guys.
	We'll probably do another IRL stream either this week or next week.
	But that was all...
	An experiment to make sure that the equipment works for the new diabolical plan that we are coming to.
	And Bills killed it, man.
	Yeah, shout out to Bills for running the cameras.
	And then, yeah, that's pretty much...
	And then check me out on Twitter, guys.
	I'm playing FedEx, and I don't really want to delay any more in that first time on CEO Network.
	Guys, lifestyle, man.
	Hop into the YouTube channel.
	CEO Network.
	Let's go.
	Bam.
	All right.
	Yo, we got to start with you guys in the house.
	I am excited for this one.
	Yeah.
	As you guys know, I geek out a lot when it comes to fitness, when it comes to reading the studies.
	The most optimal way to...
	Optimized hypertrophy, fat loss, what diet's the best, what exercise routines are the best, etc.
	I have been a student of the game since 2011, man, researching fitness and looking at people in that space from an evidence-based perspective, right?
	You know, you got the gym bros that, hey bro, just eat six meals a day with chicken and rice, blah, blah, blah.
	But I like to go to the guys that are the actual researchers that are taking groups of athletes and comparing, you know, one group training fasted versus another group training fed.
	One group being trained with such and such exercise or certain rep ranges and, you know, testing the results.
	And we got one of those researchers here in the house, man.
	You guys might not know him, but I know him, so I'm about to put y'all on right now.
	So we got Mando in the house via Zoom.
	He's here.
	Man, I know who you are.
	I'm a big supporter of your work and a lot of your colleagues.
	I know who you are, but they might not.
	Can you please introduce yourself to the people, man?
	Glad to be on the show.
	Sure.
	So my story is that I was a business consultant, but my passion had always been in fitness, and therefore I became an online PT, also some physical PT. That went well, so I created my own PT certification program.
	And that is still mostly what I do.
	I coach people directly, and I teach other people how to become better coaches, and I do all of this through an evidence-based lens, where I learned from my education and my work as a scientist.
	I do international public speaking, I do scientific research, and I try to bridge that gap between the nerdy lab coats that only do their ivory tower research that people in the gym don't really care about, And actual lifters that, as you say, are still often more in a bro community where it's like, well, the big guy says this, so let's do that.
	And I try to just look at the data and the hard facts and determine based on that what is the optimal method to lose fat, gain muscle, and get stronger.
	Nice.
	Well said.
	So I guess what we could do is we could start with the basics, man.
	How do you lose weight?
	Well, fat loss, that's important to distinguish first.
	You don't want to lose weight, you want to lose fat.
	A lot of people think they want to lose weight, but you want to lose fat.
	Because if you're just losing a lot of muscle mass, that's not going to make you look any better.
	It's also going to suppress your metabolic rate, which is going to make it harder to get back to a healthy body composition afterwards, and also makes it harder to lose more fat.
	So, to lose fat, and to build muscle, actually the recipe is somewhat similar, you need strength training.
	Strength training has become known now, scientifically, even in government organizations already, as an absolute must-do for your health, for muscle mass, for fat loss, for pretty much any purpose.
	Like, everyone that's interested in being healthy and fit should do strength training.
	And strength training plus a high-protein diet, that is basically the essentials you need to get into an energy deficit And lose fat instead of muscle.
	Now, the energy deficit is the crucial part.
	Most of the things that people care about, paleo, fasting, fructose, they don't matter that much in the grand scheme of things.
	It's that you get into an energy deficit because it's physical law that if you get into an energy deficit, your body has a higher energy expenditure than its energy intake.
	The body has to get rid of some energy from the body.
	It does that by burning mass.
	If you're doing heavy strength training, high-protein diet, you've generally got your lifestyle set up, Then the mass that the body will burn is going to be fat instead of muscle.
	And that is basically the recipe.
	Gotcha.
	Well said.
	And it's amazing how people really complicate this with complex diets or they'll sit there and they'll say, oh, I'm on a keto diet or I'm on a paleo diet.
	Then I'll ask them, well, how many calories are you taking every day?
	And they don't know.
	Would you say that not tracking your calories is probably the biggest mistake you can make when it comes to improving body composition?
	I think you at least need to have calorie awareness.
	So a lot of people confuse the means and the end.
	You can absolutely lose fat on a paleo diet, a keto diet, vegan diet, whatever diet that puts you in an energy deficit even if you don't realize that you are in an energy deficit and that is why it works.
	But if you track directly or you have a good sense of your energy intake, then it is much easier.
	And then you can also have a much greater variety in your diet.
	You can have sugars and the like.
	You can have ice cream.
	If you fit it into your macros, then that doesn't actually sabotage your fat loss.
	The problem is, if you're not tracking your macros, people will generally overeat on these foods.
	So calorie tracking is essentially a tool that A, guarantees that you are losing fat when you want to, if your caloric intake is appropriate, and B, it affords you with a much greater variety of foods that you can eat, because you can determine exactly all the foods that you want to eat.
	If it fits your calorie budget, then you can still lose fat on it.
	Okay.
	I have a question as well.
	Mano, as a beginner, right?
	I'm into fitness as well.
	Let's say I want to get into weight training and I want to lose weight.
	When it comes to reps, how many should I do to maintain that weight loss?
	Or does it not matter as much as people think?
	It indeed doesn't matter as much as people think.
	In general, the training you do doesn't matter much for fat loss to begin with because you don't burn that much energy in the gym or in any type of workout, really, compared to how easy it is to overeat in your diet.
	So there are a bunch of cliches in fitness.
	That you can't outwork a bad diet.
	You can't out-train a bad diet.
	Apps are made in the kitchen.
	These are all cliches because they're very true.
	Your diet is much more important for fat loss than your training because you know that thing what they have at Planet Fitness where you do a workout and then you get a slice of pizza?
	Yeah.
	That's basically all your energy expenditure right back in there.
	Yeah.
	So you just funded everything you accomplished in that one hour that you eventually got yourself to the gym for.
	It's much more important with your training to retain muscle mass, ideally build muscle mass, to create that extra energy reservoir.
	There's also a great meta-analysis on this, which found that, by Clark, it found that the strength training is more effective on average in the literature than cardio, actually, because you build that long-term investment into not just acute energy expenditure, but you also increase muscle mass, which increases your metabolic rate, which increases your energy expenditure throughout all time.
	If you build, say, 40 pounds of muscle, then you're carrying around all that mass everywhere you go.
	And that costs energy as well.
	So you're investing in a long-term energy expenditure rather than just some acute energy expenditure right now.
	That plus muscle retention, that's really what you want from your workouts in the gym.
	Yeah, and you said a meta-analysis.
	Can you explain to the people?
	Because guys, we're going to cover a lot of studies here.
	He just started a study with Clark, so get ready throughout this podcast where he's going to cite studies.
	Can you tell the audience real quick what a meta-analysis is so they understand?
	So very roughly put, a meta-analysis is when you look at a bunch of studies, or basically all the studies on a subject, and you get the average.
	Gotcha.
	So if you have, say, 10 studies and it's like, well, one of them found a big advantage, one of them is small, and then there was this one study that didn't find an advantage.
	So if you put all 10 of them together, what do we get?
	And then, well, if all 10 of them together, you see, well, there is still a robust effect.
	That's what you want to find out in a meta-analysis.
	And in this case, it found actually that strength training was superior for both health and fat loss purposes, interestingly, to cardio or a combination of the two on a time equated basis.
	Gotcha.
	So, you know, the general conception is, oh, I'm going to do cardio to lose weight, but the reality is if you just control calories and lift weights, you'll make just as much progress, if not more, because you'll actually be able to retain the muscle mass that you worked so hard to get in the first place.
	Exactly.
	That makes a lot of sense.
	Let me ask you this, because we talked about an energy deficit, right?
	So, and I think for the audience to understand, what he's talking about, guys, is you figure out what your maintenance calories is.
	So, like, if your maintenance calories, let's say for easy numbers, is 2,000, you need to put yourself in a deficit.
	Menno, how much of a deficit should they be in to optimize fat loss while simultaneously maximizing muscle retention?
	Because, right, when you put yourself in a deficit, this is where you start to get into the scary land of losing muscle mass.
	How much of a deficit should they be focusing on?
	It depends primarily on your body fat percentage.
	Okay.
	If you are obese, then you don't need to worry about your body fat.
	You don't need to worry about your energy deficit.
	You need it to be lean yesterday and your body's not going to burn any muscle when it has that much fat that it can burn instead.
	If you're overweight, you know, don't push it to extreme levels.
	Like, 50% is very aggressive, for example.
	Most people never end up in that much of a deficit anyway, so it's still not a big deal.
	Now, when you get to some athletic body fat levels, and there are a couple studies on this by Garfield, for example, from Norway, and they found that in athletes, so people, you know, healthy body fat percentage, not overweight, not necessarily bodybuild or ripped, but just healthy body fat range, then most people want to be in, like, a 20% deficit.
	Because if you still diet very aggressively, then you're just going to end up losing a lot of muscle.
	In general, you cannot go wrong taking it slow with more of a lifestyle perspective because then, yeah, you'll lose all fat and maybe you'll recomp a bit as well.
	But if you want to optimize things, you know, nobody likes dieting, so I might as well get it over with.
	Then for many people that are at a healthy body fat level and you just want to get a six pack, for example, then 20% is usually an approximate ballpark figure that works for many people.
	Okay, so 20%.
	So let's say their maintenance calories is for simple numbers, 2,000.
	Should they be pretty much going in a 200 to 300 calorie deficit?
	Yeah, so you'd be like 1,600 calories in that case.
	That could be the case for a woman, guy with 3,000, or beginner at indeed 2,000.
	Then you're looking at say 1,600.
	For a more advanced guy, you're looking at like 3,000 maintenance maybe, and then 2,400 for the diet.
	Okay, and that's every day to hit that number.
	Yeah, on average.
	On average.
	You can talk about the calorie spread and everything.
	By far the most important is just the average spread over time.
	Not so much, you know, what you do in one day versus the other day.
	That is so important.
	And real quick, because I've talked about this before and I'm really glad that you mentioned that.
	A lot of people tend to worry about, okay, I need to be in a calorie deficit every single day, which obviously is important and you should do that, but should people really be focusing more on being in a calorie deficit for the week versus being in a calorie deficit for every single day?
	Because people might get anal, might cause them to get anxiety, go crazy.
	Should they be focusing more on, alright, as long as I'm in a calorie deficit overall, on average, for the week, for the month, etc., is that what they should be focusing on more?
	Yeah, for sure.
	It's like money.
	Dieting is a lot like spending money or trying to save money.
	You know, how much you spend on a single day, it's not so important.
	You have a certain salary per month even, or per week, per month, and that is basically what you have to spend.
	If you want to save money, you need to be under that, or you need to be under your salary in terms of your expenditures, right?
	It's the same with dieting, that you have an energy expenditure for the week as a whole, and if you're under that, then your body has to get rid of some energy.
	You have a lot of flexibility in how you distribute that across your days.
	So it's the long-run average energy expenditure and average intake.
	The balance between those, that determines whether the body has to burn energy or whether it's going to store energy.
	Okay.
	So baseline, put yourself in about a 20% calorie deficit, and then if you're, you know, with a higher body fat percentage, you're obese, you can go up to, what would you say is the max range that they could go up as far as deficit goes without messing themselves up?
	As obese, yeah, you don't have to worry about it.
	Just get your protein in and do strength training.
	Don't deprive yourself of essential nutrients.
	Other than that, most research finds that the more of a deficit you can achieve, the faster you lose fat.
	Okay, so would 30% be appropriate for maybe someone that's obese out there watching?
	Yeah, basically, I would say as much as you can sustainably implement in your lifestyle.
	Gotcha.
	To maintain the deficit long-term and not go crazy with cravings and binges.
	Okay.
	Can you talk about, since we're on the topic of weight loss, can you talk about the importance of protein intake and that in comparison to other macronutrients like carbohydrates and fat?
	Because a lot of people tend to maybe cut carbs altogether.
	They don't prioritize protein.
	Can you talk about how important a macro protein is?
	Protein is extremely important.
	I co-offered the latest meta-analysis, or one of the latest, on the requirements for strength trainees and the effect on lean body mass development, and it's huge.
	In terms of protein, compared to the other macronitrients, The other macros don't actually matter that much at all.
	But protein has a huge effect.
	Because protein is what your body needs for not just muscle mass, but for almost anything.
	Protein comes from the word proteos, from Greek, meaning of first importance.
	It's like the worker bees of your body.
	The proteins, they do almost everything.
	All the functional stuff in your body is done by proteins.
	It's in digestive stuff, your heart, your liver, everything needs protein, and your muscles are one of the organs that rely in very significant part on protein to build and to function.
	So you need a protein intake as a lifter of at least 1.6 gram per kilogram or about 0.7 gram per pound.
	That's total protein intake per total body weight.
	Bare minimum.
	So 0.7 grams per pound of body weight or you said 1.6 per kilogram?
	Yeah.
	Roughly for my European people out there.
	Yeah.
	Now, so, I guess we can get into the diets, right, a little bit here.
	You know, you got your people that swear by intermittent fasting, you got your people that swear by ketogenic diets, you got your people that, you know, swear by paleo or vegan or whatever it may be, and they're all running around saying that my diet's the best and beating their chest.
	You know, I call them diet zealots.
	If you equate protein, let's say you take someone that's intermittent fasting versus someone that's doing keto versus someone that's doing a regular traditional diet, if it fits your macro, so to speak, is there a real difference in body composition changes if you equate calories and protein overall?
	Very little in most scenarios.
	Things like fasted training, those are probably not great.
	But if you're distributing calories and protein somewhat equally across the day versus fewer meals, like at least three meals spread across the day, after that point, there's essentially no further effect of the timing.
	Or at least you're talking about very small effects.
	Whether you do fasting or not, especially if you're not training fasted, Doesn't affect fat loss either.
	Again, it's the means in the end, and people, because of the culture wars, people take a lot of pride in, basically, they're confusing the evidence and the culture wars, where people think, I'm an intermittent fasting person, or I'm a keto person, I'm a vegan, I'm a carnivore, and it becomes part of their identity, and they stop looking at the facts.
	And they don't realize that the intermittent fasting diet, I also like intermittent fasting, but it's not my religion, you know?
	I just do it because it's a tool that gets me to the ends that I want, which is reducing my energy intake.
	So fasting helps me, by not eating, reduce my energy intake, and I'm typically not hungry in the mornings, so it's easy not to eat in the mornings for me, and that's the case for a lot of people.
	So intermittent fasting in that sense is a tool that allows me to reduce my energy intake and thereby helps me lose fat.
	And that's been confirmed now by numerous fat analysis studies, a very large body of literature, especially because intermittent fasting has completely blown up in the last few years, is now super popular.
	But there's more evidence than ever that it actually doesn't do anything special.
	So what is your...
	And I agree with you 100%.
	But I've had people even come in and say, intermittent fasting is the best.
	It's the reason why I've lost weight, etc.
	I've always looked at it like the bottom line is being in a calorie deficit and intermittent fasting simply helps you get there in the easiest way.
	because when you cut out food for multiple hours of the day, it's much easier to hit your target goal of being in a calorie deficit or whatever your goal is, if your goal is to lose weight or whatever.
	So basically if you equate protein and calories, there's virtually no difference in body composition changes.
	What about performance?
	Also not if you're not training fasted.
	So there have been a couple studies by Grant Tinsley et al, which looked at strength trainees doing intermittent fasting type diets, and they found more appreciable differences between groups.
	If you are training fasted, we recently conducted a study that's yet to be published, where we found some detrimental effects on strength development.
	There was also a recent study on Ramadan.
	During the last Ramadan, where they looked at people that trained fasted versus people that didn't train fasted, so they broke the fast before.
	They did their workout in the evening later, and they found that it was better to do the workout after some food, which, you know, it's not too shocking.
	In that case, there was some confounding by fluid intake.
	In our study, there wasn't.
	So I don't think it's simply fluid intake that is the issue.
	It just makes sense that if you don't have any carbs, you don't have any protein, your body is in a catabolic state, and mTOR enzyme, for example, is It's like a regulator that's in your muscles.
	It's an enzyme.
	It looks at all the anabolic factors that are at play.
	You know, is this guy on gear?
	How effective was the workout?
	How much protein do we have?
	And it sends a signal deeper inside the muscle that stimulates the whole growth process.
	And if there are no amino acids available, then mTOR is going to say, well, look, we want to build muscle, but there's no substrate.
	Like, we don't have the building blocks.
	It's like, we want to build a house, but you don't have the equipment for it, so you can't.
	And you're just going to have a very suppressed growth response.
	And there's a limit to how much your body can compensate for that, say, the next day.
	Wow.
	So training fasted could actually hurt you long term.
	Yeah.
	For sure, yeah.
	Okay.
	What would you say to combat that?
	Because a lot of people swear by training fasted, right?
	What would you say is the optimal, I guess, pre-workout meal then, I guess, to kind of allow people to train in a state where they can optimize hypertrophy?
	I mean, a lot of it is just mindset because you don't need a big meal.
	In our recent systematic review on carbohydrate requirements, we found that just 15 gram carbohydrates is probably sufficient, especially if you're not doing like super insane workouts.
	Okay.
	So not much.
	So that in itself is enough to just get it where the mTORs are going to, I guess, when it sends a signal out, it's not going to fall on deaf ears, if that makes sense.
	Exactly.
	And protein intakes, like 20 grams high quality protein is good, 0.3 gram per kilogram.
	It's really all you need.
	So for most people, 20 grams and you're fine.
	And it's super easy to get that.
	A lot of people have this mindset issue, really, that they cannot have a meal.
	Or they have a certain concept of what a meal has to be.
	If you wake up early in the morning, you're not hungry.
	And that goes for me, for example, when I was a business consultant, I woke up at 5 or something to go to the gym before work.
	I'm not hungry then.
	So I would just have some slices of A chicken, for example, like grilled or smoked chicken, and a piece of fruit.
	You can literally stuff it in your mouth when you're walking out the door, and it doesn't take any time to prepare.
	You can literally take it out of the fridge, grab it, eat it while you're in the elevator, done.
	You can also have a shake if you prefer that, if you want something liquid.
	The issue with shakes is that they're not very satiating, so I'm not a big fan of shakes, but it can get the job done.
	So it really is a matter of just finding something that works for you and is convenient.
	Nice.
	Real quick, guys, in the chat.
	Guys, it's 7FSuperChat.com if you guys want to, because you've got an expert here.
	If you guys got questions, get your questions in now.
	We will definitely go through and have a Q&A portion here.
	So get your questions in now, Rumble Rants, all that stuff.
	Sorry, Fresh Go.
	Yeah, recently Dana White did an 86-hour water fast, right?
	Question for you when it comes to fasting.
	Is it better to fast on water only or certain food groups you would say?
	What's better for fasting if you're gonna fast?
	Water is certainly better than no water.
	But in terms of food, six to eight days is way beyond what's scientifically considered even remotely optimal.
	Because you don't have protein intake during those days.
	There's a concept in science called a protein-sparing modified fast.
	And that's basically the entirely superior version of complete fasting.
	It means that you essentially minimize your energy intake, but you do get your protein in.
	And if you get your protein in, then your body has the means not to lose muscle.
	And you can still have a super high energy deficit.
	And here's the kicker.
	You're actually going to lose more fat with the protein sparing modified fast than a complete fast.
	Because the energy that you consume from the protein, now in theory, at least, if you consume just protein, in practice you'll also have some other nutrients, but let's say, theoretically, you really only consume pure protein.
	What is your body going to do with that protein?
	Well, up until the requirements, it's going to stimulate muscle protein synthesis.
	That is going to stimulate energy expenditure because it costs energy to build muscle proteins, to build all types of proteins.
	So what happens is that none of that energy that you consume from protein is going to be used for gaining fat.
	None of it's going to be used for energy as long as you're not consuming excessive protein.
	It's going to be used to fuel muscle protein synthesis.
	Your energy expenditure goes up and your effective energy intake doesn't go up because all of that energy is used For MPS, for muscle protein synthesis, rather than for fat storage.
	So you actually do a little bit more fat, and your muscle retention is way better, and you're not starving as much, and it's better for your health, and you get essential nutrients in.
	So a PSMF, protein-sparing modified fast, is simply completely superior from a body composition point of view than actual complete fasting, like not eating anything, regardless of whether you're consuming water.
	And that was a very polite way of saying that it's bullshit.
	You know, obviously he's keeping it scientific, but you know, I've always been extremely critical of these water fasts, these stupid ass long term fasts.
	I've always said that they're not optimal if your goal is to, you know, build an aesthetic physique.
	And I guess, what is up with the explosion of these fad diets, you know, of people, you know, I'm not going to eat anything for days, or I'm going to be on a snake diet, or I'm not going to do a water fast, or I'm not going to eat any carbohydrates.
	Like, why have these ridiculous diets become so popular versus just simply tracking your calories and getting adequate protein?
	I mean, people like new things.
	People like magic fixes.
	People like ideas that aren't complicated and they feel some hack.
	They don't want to learn about calories.
	They don't want to do the hard work.
	They don't want to go to the gym.
	You know, there's a difference between people like to hear and what people need to hear.
	And with fitness, that is extremely true.
	Now, if I had to throw a bone to the fasting crowd, I would say that the fasting crowd has taught us that the body can fast for much longer and function effectively for much longer than the mainstream believes.
	Because if you ask anyone in, like, you know, Gen Pop, okay, how long do you think you could go without any food and still perform fine on an IQ test or do your job and those kind of things?
	Many of them would probably be like, oh, a couple hours, my brain starts to suffer, I get hangry and whatever.
	And no, it's not a couple hours, it's a couple days, at least.
	So, and it can be weeks and months even.
	I think the longest therapeutic fast on record is about a year.
	It's 365 days or something.
	Wow.
	That is with some essential nutrients supplemented, I think, but no real energy intake to speak of.
	So, if you're morbidly obese, there is a lot of energy stored and the body can use that very effectively.
	So, that's the only thing I think I would say is good that we can learn from that movement.
	But, yeah, it's not optimal at all.
	Good to know.
	What are your thoughts on people that restrict carbohydrates from their training?
	Are they shooting themselves in the foot?
	Is that optimal to getting shredded quickly?
	What are your thoughts on that?
	I wouldn't recommend not having any carbs pre and post workouts, but we recently did a systematic review where we found that, like I said earlier, you only need about 15 grams of carbohydrates before the effect on performance becomes moot for the vast majority of trainees.
	Okay.
	You need a little bit, but you really don't need much.
	And your total caloric intake also, or your total carbohydrate intake across the day and across time, for most trainees that are just doing strength training a couple times a week or even daily, is not very important.
	Your body can very adequately re-synthesize the glycogen, which is the stored form of carbohydrate in your muscles, very effectively via other mechanisms.
	So you don't need to load it with carbs, which was kind of the previous bro idea.
	And what endurance trainees do actually need to do, because they burn way more carbs So we talked about adequate protein intake.
	What about adequate carbohydrate intake to maximize gains?
	Yeah, it's not high.
	In our review, we found that in the vast majority of long-term studies, there was no effect of carbohydrate intake on strength development or muscle growth.
	Okay, so someone that's on keto can absolutely kill it, just like someone that's on a traditional diet.
	Yes, absolutely.
	If you get your calories right, your protein intake is high, then even a ketogenic diet in most of the studies is...
	In fact, most of the studies are on keto diets.
	They don't do like 20% carbs versus 40%.
	They always go with very extremes.
	And you see that keto diets can actually be very effective to build muscle and to lose fat.
	The only caveat, I would say, for muscle growth is that we've seen a lot of research, and you see that anecdotally as well.
	If you're on a keto diet...
	And you want to build muscle, it can actually be a little bit overly hard to get all of your energy in, so all of your calories in.
	Because if you have to bulk on, you know, 4,000 calories or higher...
	Of protein only, that's tough.
	Yeah, just protein and fat, that's just difficult.
	You know, you're going to be drinking olive oil or some shit.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Okay, because foods that are typically protein dense are very satiating, like chicken and fish and all this other stuff.
	Like, you can only eat so much of that stuff, and it's low calorie, so you're going to be full all the time doing that.
	Exactly.
	Okay.
	Sorry, do you have a question real quick?
	Yeah, go ahead.
	So listen, man, I want to get results in the gym.
	I'm a beginner on my way up, working on it.
	But I've been wondering, Mano, you can help me here as well.
	My game is a good note, but I don't hear your take on this.
	So when it comes to like a beginner in the gym, right?
	Obviously, you need time in the game, have experience, have, you know, I guess knowledge of, for example, dieting.
	But at the same time, people come to you offering you, you know, TRT, steroids, different peptides.
	What's the best formula or best way to get gains before having to like use, I want to say, steroids?
	Or what'd you say?
	Most important for muscle growth is that high protein diet, consistently working hard in the gym, going multiple times, high effort, decent volume of training, that is by far the most important.
	And I would say for the vast majority of trainees, the biggest problem with going to peptides or steroids, most peptides don't even work, but steroids or anything, is that if you don't have the basics right, then steroids are actually not going to do as much for you as you would think.
	So a lot of people think that, oh, I just take some gear and boom, I'm fucking four.
	No, it doesn't work.
	You still need to work hard.
	You still need to get your protein in.
	In fact, a lot of what gear does for sure, you get some muscle growth from just being on testosterone, but you also get a higher ceiling of muscle protein synthesis.
	So you need more protein.
	You also get higher recovery capacity, so you can benefit from training even harder.
	And that's what the bodybuilders do.
	Yes, they're on a lot of gear.
	Yes, they have good genetics, but also they still work extremely hard.
	They have their diets in order, and they do this consistently for year in, year out.
	It's like they already have the good fundamentals and the good habits, and it allows them to use those good habits and train even harder and increase their capacity.
	I've noticed, when you look at old-school bodybuilder training splits, like Arnold and Yates and Tom Platt, All these guys.
	Like, if you looked at their routines, they trained each muscle group once per week, but they would do, like, 50 sets.
	Like, they would do crazy volume.
	And you're like, what the hell?
	A regular person would probably get destroyed by that.
	But if you're on, you know, enhanced, you're able to recover from that and just beat yourself up.
	And your capacity, like you said before, to overtrain is almost, you know, gone.
	Mitigated completely with the gear use, which allows you to get more gains.
	So, man, let me ask you this since we're on the topic of sets and volume.
	Let's talk about that.
	Volume and its relation to hypertrophy.
	How important is volume and how much volume should people be doing to optimize hypertrophy?
	Very important.
	There were two recent meta-analyses that I reviewed them on my YouTube channel.
	I forgot who they were.
	Philips et al., one of them.
	The other one, I don't remember the offers.
	They both found that if you look at huge, there was actually meta-analysis of meta-analysis.
	So they were like super, super, super big picture views of just looking at all the available research and looking at what is really, really, really important.
	And for dieting, for example, then you find protein intake is in that list.
	Calories and protein are pretty much at the top of the pyramid.
	Now, for training, training volume is way up there.
	It was the number one, especially for muscle hypertrophy.
	For strength development, not as much, but for muscle hypertrophy, training volume is the number one up there.
	You need to train hard, and then you just need to do more of it up to a certain point that you can recover from it still.
	And then the more you do, while you can recover from it, the more muscle you gain.
	So it's like you're training, so you got like this window, and you want to be at the, you know, max of that window, but not overstep because you still need to be in a range that you can actually recover from, but you want to push as close to that red line as you possibly can.
	Exactly.
	Now, for most people, and I know, I understand that like if you're a beginner versus an intermediate versus an advanced, that's going to, you know, vary wildly, right?
	A beginner could probably make gains on maybe five sets a week, even 10 sets a week.
	How much, I mean, how many sets per, let's say per group, like let's say with a beginner versus an intermediate and advanced person, how many sets per muscle group per week should they be focusing on?
	A beginner, probably about 10.
	A meta-analysis by Brad Schoenfeld et al found that you get quite consistent, you know, returns on investment, if you will, greater muscle growth, up to 10 sets at least.
	And then there have been some additional meta-analyses in the last years that found, especially in trained individuals, you get a greater response in the 12 to 20 range.
	And in some studies, even like 30, 45.
	But almost nobody actually trains that way.
	And in these studies, they weren't doing full body training.
	They were only training a couple muscle groups.
	So most people, even in evidence-based fitness, they will not go up to those extremes, especially not if you train hard, long rest intervals, high quality sets.
	The general consensus is in the range of 10 to 20.
	And then if you really know what you're doing, your recovery is good.
	You can experiment with going higher.
	And if you want to do more of a minimum effective volume type approach, you can be under 10.
	But probably if you're...
	At all trains, six sets per week or so, like one set per day is pretty much the minimum unless you train extremely hard.
	So let me ask you this then.
	So we got a range here.
	So beginner, about 10 sets, more advanced, 12 to 15.
	Then if you're advanced, we can go up into the almost 20 range per set.
	So...
	Let's say, are we talking about sets per muscle group?
	So like, you know, some exercises, right?
	Hit multiple groups.
	Let's look at like, let's say a bench press, right?
	You're hitting, you're stimulating mostly your chest and your triceps versus when you're doing pulling movements like a pull-up or a row, you're hitting your biceps and your back heavily, right?
	You got a primary and then an accessory group that's working.
	Do these set numbers count towards both muscle groups or only the primary muscle group that's being focused?
	So in other words, does this set volume that we're talking about, does that apply to the biceps as well when you're doing the rows or just the back?
	That's a good question.
	In most of these studies, they count all of the exercises, compound or isolation.
	Anything that hits the muscle group, it counts.
	However, when we look at individual studies where they look at growth rates of one exercise versus the other, we do see that a dumbbell row, for example, has been found in research to grow the biceps only half as much as a biceps curl, which makes sense.
	Rows are more for the back.
	So, you do have to factor in some exercises if you feel like, eh, does this count?
	Probably not.
	Yeah.
	So, would it be fair to say that, like, you know, if you're doing, you know, you want to hit 10 sets for biceps, right?
	Maybe count the rows as half and then, you know, then focus on, like, the isolation movements to get the rest of it?
	Or how would you say people can make up for that set deficit?
	It depends on how complicated you want to get.
	So for my PT course clients, for example, I teach them a method that for every exercise lists exactly how much it targets every muscle group and how to get to those numbers.
	And then you have to do basically math with fractionals, like this exercise hits it a third or half.
	For most people, half is about as complicated as I would go.
	And if you want to keep it really simple, I would just say, if it's a primary target muscle, you count it.
	Otherwise, you don't.
	If you feel that arguments can go both ways, maybe you count it 50%.
	Okay.
	All right.
	I like that.
	So in one end, you can either go on the extreme and say, okay, I'm doing rows.
	I'm just going to count this as back.
	And then I'm going to do a separate exercise where I'm focused solely on the biceps if you want to hit the biceps and not count.
	Yeah, I would definitely add some biceps work, at least some.
	Yeah.
	And so based on research in that case, it would be you add half the biceps work because the rows, they count half.
	Okay.
	This really depends on how complicated you want to get.
	Like, PTs and stuff, I think this is what they have to know.
	This is where, you know, science meets practice and they have to just do the work and create a program while running the numbers.
	Yeah.
	But for most individuals, Yeah, the methods we just talked about are probably as complicated as they need to go.
	Yeah, and obviously, right, the trainee's experience level is going to matter significantly.
	If it's a beginner, they could probably get away with doing no bicep curls versus, you know, a more advanced guy, you're going to need to probably target that muscle and get more volume in since your body's more trained.
	Exactly.
	So in ranked beginners, we actually see in research, when they start bench pressing, they will get some bicep growth.
	Really?
	Wow.
	Yeah.
	That's how strong the stimuli is for beginners.
	Yeah, I mean, it's funny because there are even some studies where if you look at complete beginners, they will get the same growth response in the first, like, two weeks or so, at least, of training when they do cardio and strength training because anything is more stimulating than sitting on a couch and eating Doritos.
	So...
	If the stimulus is going to a jog versus squats, that's quite similar.
	When you do squats for the first time, you're completely out of breath.
	So squats actually also give you the same cardiovascular stimulus for at least a period as going for a jog.
	Mm-hmm.
	And then after a couple weeks, we see that the cellular pathways, they diverge and you get more specialized adaptation.
	Okay.
	I've seen that myself.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, no, definitely.
	You can make gains just breathing in the gym when you're a beginner.
	It's crazy.
	Those newbie gains are real, especially in that first year.
	Okay, so we talked about sets and volume.
	Let's talk a little bit about repetitions, right?
	This is a very disputed situation, right?
	You got people that sit there and swear by, you know, lift heavy, 6 reps or below.
	Then you got other people that are saying, yo, 6 to 10.
	Then you got other people that are saying, no, you need to go up to 12 to 15.
	What rep ranges are optimal in your take?
	What rep ranges should people be training at when you're doing compound movements versus isolation movements?
	What's your general thoughts on this?
	And what does literature say?
	So this used to be very disputed and controversial.
	Yeah.
	Right now in science, it's not anymore.
	It's very clear.
	For strength, going heavier is better.
	For muscle hypertrophy, as long as you're in the range of, say, 5 to 30 reps, there's no effect.
	5 to 30 reps.
	5 to 30 reps.
	No, that's awesome.
	No, because I want the audience to hear that because I can't tell you how many haters I get.
	Oh, bro, why are you doing 20 rep sets?
	And I'm like, because it doesn't fucking matter, you retard.
	But sorry, I'll let you continue on.
	I don't want to rant on that.
	Yeah, so that's exactly right.
	If you're going close to failure, you can do sets of 20, even 30, and you still get the same growth response.
	And the question to why you would do that is because it's a lot less injurious.
	So I do kickboxing, for example, and now that I do that, I do mostly high rep work in the gym because I want to just maintain my muscle mass, have the mass, and use the kickboxing to get better at kickboxing.
	Now, kickboxing is extremely injurious.
	It's very hard on your joints.
	And if I add strength training to that, then it will quickly become too much.
	So, a way to get good stimulus on your muscles, but keep it easy on the tendons and the joints, is To go with very high rep work.
	This also works great with elderly clients and in general people that care a lot about injury prevention and don't care so much about strength development.
	And I've always kind of like try to tell people that like you know if you're training because like if you're a power lifter right it's obviously strength specific and centric but if you're just training to look good naked I think?
	Has a similar hypertrophy response.
	Now, how about when we're talking about compound movements versus isolation movements?
	Does that also work with, let's say, something like a bench press or a squat or a deadlift versus a bicep curl or a tricep?
	Should those rep ranges be a little bit lower versus isolation movements being higher, or does that not matter either?
	It doesn't inherently matter, but in practice, most people benefit from keeping their compounds a little bit lower in reps and isolation work a little bit higher.
	Because if you're going to do a lateral raise for adults, for example, you're not going to do a 1RM. First of all, nobody cares what your 1RM is on a lateral raise.
	Second of all, it's really hard on the shoulders, like the joints, the tendons for most people.
	So it's high risk.
	It's hard to get good technique.
	It just doesn't work well practically.
	And on the other hand, if you do squats, I mean, more than, depending on your level of conditioning, more than 10, 12 reps per set, especially for men, that becomes cardio.
	Yeah.
	Like, it becomes really difficult just breathing.
	So, yeah, it's just not very practical to do that.
	So, most people, they gravitate towards doing the compound work for somewhat heavier, better for strength development, better for motor coordination, again, because you build strength and movement patterns that actually might matter.
	And in isolation work, you use that to supplement the compound work with higher reps, And the benefit of that also is that you get lower and higher rep work, and there is some research that combining them is the best of both worlds, because you get potentially different growth stimuli.
	Some research, a bit iffy, but some research points towards hitting different muscle fiber types, like type 1 versus type 2 fibers.
	And it might also have a slightly different effect on your fatigue.
	The type of fatigue might be different.
	So overall fatigue management may be better if you do high and low rep works.
	It's not very solid in research, but it works well in practice.
	So I generally do recommend having a bit of both.
	Doing both.
	Okay.
	Let's talk about training frequency.
	Some people say, hey, you should train a muscle group only once per week.
	We talked about the old school bodybuilder training routines where they were hammering one body group per week and they were doing 30 sets in that one day.
	Then there's other people that advocate for, hey, drop the volume down per muscle group and then go in the gym more frequently and hit each muscle group two to three times per week.
	Mm-hmm.
	What is the best and most optimal way to promote muscle growth as far as training frequency and duration?
	So if you equate the total volume, the training frequency is not that important.
	If you go up to higher volumes, more advanced trainees, then the general body of research does trend towards either benefits or at worst neutral effects of higher training frequencies.
	So my general programming is also on the side of higher frequencies because there's some research pointing towards better testosterone to cortisol ratio, so actually better recovery, higher muscle activation levels on average because of lower fatigue within each session.
	And some studies find better gains.
	Most studies find the same, like as long as the total weekly volume is the same.
	It doesn't matter whether you hit the muscle two times or three times or six times even.
	Moving twice a day.
	But there's essentially no research to speak of that finds any detrimental effects of higher frequencies, as long as you keep the volume in check.
	So I tend towards more higher frequencies, so I'm the high-frequency guy in evidence-based fitness.
	But I think that's entirely justified if you simply look at the hard data, which are all positive or neutral for higher frequencies.
	So I don't think you need to go high-frequency, and I don't think you need to go to the gym very often.
	But when in doubt, you're on the side of hitting muscle groups more frequently.
	If you go three times, for example, probably you want to do full-body workouts, especially if you do very high-volume training.
	There's some meta-analytic research, James Krieger et al., or James Krieger performed a meta-analysis, where he found that if you go above six sets per muscle group per session, You run into very strong diminishing returns.
	So basically, you don't have that much to gain anymore.
	The muscle gets the hint after six sets.
	Either that or you're not training very hard.
	And it's better to, if you then do an additional exercise or more sets, do those on a different day and distribute it a bit more equally across the week rather than just hammering the muscle with even more sets in that same session.
	Okay, so if you're going three times per week, full body workouts might be the way to go.
	What do you think is optimal for someone that's really trying to maximize hypertrophy and aesthetics as far as gym frequency?
	Well, this might be a controversial stance, but based on the research, it's very hard to go wrong with full body training.
	And I personally, I'm an advanced trainee, and I know what I'm doing, but I train full body every single day.
	So do I. And I've been doing that for years.
	Pretty much, yeah.
	So this is something that, if you tell that to many bodybuilders now, they're like...
	Like, how is this possible, you know?
	But if you think about it, almost every gymnast, every Olympic weightlifter, almost every athlete trains this way.
	They train high volume.
	They're not going to, you know, a rugby player is not going to be like, oh, coach, today I can't do upper body because I did it yesterday.
	No, they do their entire body pretty much all the time because it's a requirement of the sport.
	And especially in Olympic weightlifters, Olympic weightlifters are never going to be like, oh, today I don't do biceps.
	Like, they train all body every day.
	Because both the snatch and the clean and jerk are essentially full body exercises.
	Gymnasts, same story.
	So it's uniquely bodybuilding and uniquely the last 60, not even 60 years, maybe 50 years or so, that training splits and muscle group splits have become kind of the norm.
	Because up until steroids became popular actually in around the 50s, 1950s, Full body training was the norm.
	Almost all strength trainees, whether they were bodybuilders, powerlifters, or strongmen, they did full body training.
	So as a natural athlete, it's probably better for you to get a little bit more frequency in than someone that might be enhanced.
	Yeah, that's, I mean, I wouldn't be confident in saying that because we don't have research on enhanced trainees, but I think you will have to do more as a natural trainee to get the same results, and it might include, indeed, going with higher frequencies.
	And if you look at some bodybuilders as well, like Big Rainey has said that if you train certain muscle groups more than once per week or once per two weeks, they get too big.
	Luxury problem.
	So there is also at least some anecdotal evidence that they also benefit from higher frequencies, whether they do it or not.
	And if I'm not mistaken, there was a study by Schoenfeld, Brad Schoenfeld, which for the audience, he's a leading hypertrophy researcher in the world from, I think, 2014 that showed that two times per week was superior to only one time per week, if I'm not mistaken.
	You could correct me if I'm wrong.
	Yeah, and there's also another one also involving Brad Schoenfeld.
	Don't think it was the lead offer, where they found that five times was better than two times.
	Oh, wow.
	But yeah, most studies don't find differences.
	Okay, so from two to five, it's still optimal.
	Yeah.
	So again, most studies don't find differences, but when, especially when the volume becomes higher due to the higher frequency, which usually is the case, like if you spread some sets over from one session to another, even the same number of sets are going to give you more reps because you're less fatigued.
	You know, if you do, say Monday, you do nine sets of bench pressing because Monday is national chess day, right?
	Yeah.
	So let's say three sets, incline, decline, and flat bench press.
	Uh-huh.
	How is your performance going to be at nine sets of bench pressing?
	Not very good, right?
	Now, you take those three sets, you move three of them to Wednesday and three of them to Friday.
	Now, on Wednesday and Friday, you're going to do a lot more reps because you're still fresh.
	So just from redistributing the training volume to more days, which is increasing your training frequency per muscle group, you're increasing the volume, the effective volume, without initial time requirements or anything.
	So in that sense, it's also time efficient.
	Yeah, and that's what I would say.
	That was a perfect example of doing what I would consider something called trash volume, where those three sets, yeah, you did it, you persevered, but if you had moved that to another day, maybe the day after, whatever it may be, you would have been able to do more reps, more weight, which would increase your overall volume, which we know volume is the main thing.
	and it would have been a better quality set, which would get you more gains over time long-term versus doing those three sets.
	And then I also like the fact, 'cause you mentioned it was with James Krieger, you said basically anything after six sets per muscle group starts to get into the diminishing returns category. - Yeah, like strong diminishing returns, 'cause you only get diminishing returns after the very first set.
	But after six sets, it becomes like very marginal.
	Wow.
	Okay.
	What's a good split for a beginner?
	Let's say, for example, leg day, chest day, biceps, and then shoulders.
	What's a good split during the week?
	Well, you just said full body, bro.
	No, but let's say I want to do splits.
	I don't want to do full body.
	Oh, you don't want to do full body.
	Only splits.
	Yeah, maybe upper-lower or push-pull.
	You can do push-pull lags, but I don't like lag days that much because they are so much more intense than all the other days.
	So I generally like to spread some of the lag work to one day, some of the lag work to another day.
	lifts.
	I don't like doing them on the same day.
	You're so tired.
	Technique goes down the drain.
	And it's one hell of a workout.
	And then the other workout is super easy.
	So push-pull could work, for example.
	Okay.
	So that's another way to get it.
	If you don't want to do full body every time, you could do push-pull legs and then stay off and then do it again.
	Repeat.
	Yep.
	Okay, so now let's talk real quick.
	So we talked about volume, we talked about frequency, and I'm going to put this all together here in a second.
	Let's talk about intensity.
	We had mentioned, because I think this is something that isn't given enough attention in the fitness industry, right?
	People just kind of say, go to the gym, check the fucking box.
	Yeah, I went to the gym and I trained.
	But, you know, you go around the gym and you look at the people that are training, a lot of times they're not even training hard.
	And then you got the, it's like kind of an extreme.
	You got the guys that are like...
	Dying, taking every single set of failure, right?
	Playing the Rocky theme.
	And then you got the other guys that are there just kind of going through the motions, looking at whores on Instagram while lifting weights.
	What is the happy medium and what is the optimal intensity to be at where people are still able to train hard enough to get that stimuli, but not destroying themselves so that they can go in and give a productive session a day or two later?
	Yeah, so in research, this is usually called proximity to failure and measured as reps in reserve or reps to failure.
	I would say, based on the research, that it's best to be very close to failure, but not hit actual failure.
	Now, this is a nuanced topic because for the majority of listeners, if you're not an advanced trainee, if most of the things that we talked about are new, then the advice you need to hear is just train to failure, bro, because you're probably not going to.
	Most people don't lift to actual momentary muscle failure, which is the physical inability of the muscle to produce another repetition.
	There was actually a recent meta-analysis from this year which found that the average gym-goer leaves seven to eight reps in reserve during their average set.
	That's literally my warm-up set.
	So the reason that most people are not getting their results It's because they're not training hard enough.
	You can compensate for that with doing very high volumes.
	That's a scenario where, for example, even 40-50 sets per week might be beneficial for some people because they just don't train hard enough per set that they need to get in an absolutely ridiculous number of sets to get a good growth response.
	However, if you can push yourself to train harder, then you can make do with way fewer sets.
	And there we see this This trade-off in the research between how hard you train and how many sets you have to do.
	So you can do fewer, harder sets closer to failure, or if you get the same number of repetitions, at least somewhat close to failure, you can do more sets and make up for the fact that you didn't do as many reps in the other sets.
	You made a good point.
	Especially me as a beginner, you see me, I'll go to the gym, but I was really pushed to the actual limit of tearing muscle.
	Hiring a trainer, though, my brother Arthur showed to him, he can actually rep me, hold me with the set, push me further, so I can do more reps and not be scared of hurting myself or whatever.
	And that led to me actually getting muscle and actually improvements, because before, I was just pushing without any type of actual muscle tear.
	So you're right.
	Yeah, no, I think that's a big thing that a lot of beginners...
	And I like that you mentioned that, Mendo, that for a beginner, you might need to just kind of get yourself beat up a little bit and just go to failure so you understand what real failure is, and then you work off of that.
	Because once you understand what real failure is, where you literally can't...
	If I put a gun in your head and you can't do another rep, that is failure.
	You need to experience that burning sensation to understand what it is.
	And then from there, you're saying have...
	Was it one to two reps in reserve, you said?
	Yeah, for most people, one to three is probably about the sweet spot in terms of stimulus to fatigue.
	Because there's pain and then there's actual failure.
	Yes.
	I always stop always at pain.
	Yes.
	Oh no, this shit hurts.
	Yeah, yeah.
	And that's where most people are.
	Yeah, yeah.
	So, you're right.
	Okay.
	So, we talked about intensity.
	So, you want to have somewhere between one to three in a tank.
	Reps and reserves or IRR. I know people like to use that acronym.
	Or the RPE scale.
	I mean, do people still use RPE scale anymore?
	Rate of perceived exertion or not anymore?
	Not so much.
	Some people use it as just the inverse of RIR, but that's just needless math.
	Like, just use reps in reserve.
	I use reps to failure, which is essentially the same thing as RIR, but I always use that term, so I'm still using it.
	When is the best time to take sets to failure, you know, to optimize growth?
	Because there is always a time and place for going to failure.
	Is it during isolation movements?
	Is that the end of a cycle?
	Maybe where you've been going three weeks on and then maybe a deload week after so you could take that last week and take everything to failure because you're going to have that nice week of super compensation.
	How and when should people be using the tool of failure?
	I think the most important principle is that you can train to failure if you can recover from it afterwards.
	And a good...
	The principle is that usually your last set of an exercise, and especially of a muscle group, is a great way or a great place to go to failure, especially if you needed to learn what failure is and to make sure that your other sets are close enough to failure, because you don't fatigue yourself for the next sets.
	And if you go to failure on your first set, all your subsequent sets, they suffer from that.
	Yes.
	Whereas if you go to failure on your last set, that's fine.
	You can have the, well, you can get a little fatigue and you're probably going to recover from it for your next workout anyway.
	Most people can recover from much more than they think.
	Now, this also applies on a macro level, like you say, in the last week of the program, the week before a deload week.
	If you're sure that you're going to recover, then by all means, just push it, give it everything you've got.
	And that's a good point that you made, because I think a lot of people, they'll get on that first set, and they'll go to failure, and they'll kill it.
	And then what they don't realize is that's going to effectively hurt the rest of your sets, which will hurt your ability to get the volume in, which is the bottom line.
	Okay, so we talked about the intensity.
	Now let's talk about exercise selection real quick and then put this all together for the audience.
	When people are looking for exercises to do, to optimize hypertrophy and increasing aesthetics, what are the exercises that people should be focusing on?
	You want exercises that provide your muscles with a high degree of muscle tension throughout a large range of motion, and in particular, getting a good stretch.
	There's a lot of research from the last couple of years that shows that stretch-mediated hypertrophy, which just means that hypertrophy you get from training at long muscle lengths, is very important for maximizing growth.
	So you want to get a nice deep stretch, you know, squat all the way down, bench press all the way down, get the bar to your chest, and preferably even use dumbbells or something so you can get even lower.
	Don't sabotage your gains.
	One of the biggest mistakes that people make in the gym is ego lifting, is cutting the range of motion short to lift more weight.
	And then the only thing that's going to get bigger is your ego, not your muscles.
	Hmm.
	So, if people were to, you know, draft, I guess, like an exercise plan, what exercises do you think every body should have in their repertoire to some degree?
	As far as like, maybe let's say, maybe a leg movement, a pull movement, a push movement, what should the basics be in anyone's repertoire?
	I don't think there are any must-have exercises.
	There are a lot of exercises which are really good.
	You know, the squats, bench press.
	But there are lots of variants that you can do.
	And it's most important that you find exercises that agree with your body.
	And that's, of course, train the muscles that you want to train.
	If you want to train full body, then you need to train every muscle group.
	And you need to do squats, lacro movement, Romanian deadlifts, bench presses.
	I like dumbbell bench press a lot.
	Push-ups are actually really good.
	You need to load them somehow, but then they're really good.
	Rows can be great, especially for the upper back.
	I'm more of a fan of chin-ups, vertical type pulling movements.
	And yeah, just fill in for all the muscle groups that you want.
	You need one or two exercises, maybe more if it's a complicated muscle group.
	And then you fill your volume in that way.
	Okay.
	So you prefer, you said the vertical pulling movements versus the horizontal.
	So like, if you're doing pull-ups all the time, is there a need to do rows or vice versa?
	Not really.
	It's probably good to have both.
	Especially high rows I like.
	If you're doing chin-ups, you're hitting the lads very well.
	The biceps get strained.
	The rear delves get a decent stimulus.
	The middle and lower traps get a stimulus.
	The upper traps, you're not really training.
	So you would want to combine that with at least a shrug or a decent amount of shoulder work.
	To really balance out the development for the whole back.
	And then the lower back, you hit that with deadlifts or squats typically, not so much with the back work anyway.
	So that's fine.
	But in general, I think that people overestimate rows a little bit and they're like, oh, I have to do a vertical and I have to do a horizontal pattern.
	Yeah, yeah, that's a...
	Yeah, the body doesn't work that way.
	Like, for muscle growth, that doesn't really make sense because the body doesn't care if the movement pattern is diagonal, horizontal, or whatever the hell.
	It just cares if the muscle is under tension or not.
	And vertical pulling movements, like pull-downs, chin-ups, They typically put almost all the back under high tension and also for greater range of motion, especially for the lats, than a horizontal one.
	So it's not strictly necessary to do any horizontal type movement.
	The important thing is that you hit all the muscle groups that you want to train.
	Yeah, and I ask that because the gym bros I remember would always say, you know...
	The pull-ups build the width, and then the rows build the thickness.
	And I was like, man, is this bro science?
	Do you really need to be doing rows like that when you can actually just do pull-ups?
	To be honest, your pull-ups are harder than doing rows, right?
	So you're going to get the same stimuli from a vertical versus a horizontal pulling movement.
	I think it's a simplification.
	There is some truth behind it that rows are better for the traps, and especially the higher fibers of the traps, whereas chin-ups are better for the lats.
	But chin-ups are equally good for most of the traps if you do them with full range of motion and rear delts.
	Yeah, it's like they have slightly different functions, but chin-ups are definitely a better overall movement.
	So if you're doing chin-ups and pull-ups and you're doing shrugs, you've basically eliminated the need to do rows.
	Yeah, which, you know, they can be a good exercise to put in a program, but they're certainly not essential.
	Gotcha.
	Okay, so if we're going to talk about essentials, maybe a squat-type movement, would a lunge, would you say a lunge could also qualify as like a How do I say this?
	As a replacement for someone that might not want to squat or deadlifts?
	Yep.
	I think Bulgarian split squats, reverse deficit lunches, Squats, front squat, back squat, low bar, high bar, all of these exercises have quite similar effects on muscle hypertrophy of the quads and the glutes, which are the primary targets.
	Yeah.
	So, they are largely interchangeable, and people have squats religion, somewhat, where the power lifts in general are Sheena's exercises that thou shalt do.
	Yeah, you must do.
	But that's not really necessary unless you're power lifting.
	Yeah.
	Okay.
	So, as long as you're doing...
	Whether it's, and I kind of always tell people this too, like when you're exercise selection, like get a king movement for each plane, right?
	So like you get a king movement for legs, right?
	It could be a squat, a deadlift, or a lunge.
	Pick one of those three or a variation of those three.
	Then, for chest, pick a bench press of some kind.
	I've always said I think the decline bench is fairly useless, but I don't know if you have data that proves me wrong on that.
	I think whether it's a flat or preferably an incline, because it's very difficult to hit.
	The upper chest typically tends to be the least developed a lot of the times on most people, right?
	Because you can easily get stimuli on the middle and lower chest.
	So hit some kind of bench press exercise, whether it's a barbell bench or a dumbbell bench, right?
	And I agree with you.
	I like dumbbells better, too, with a better stretch.
	Then get some type of pulling movement, whether it's a pull-up or a row, which we just discussed, you know, might be in a better interest to do a pull-up, or maybe even a lat pull-down if you don't have the strength.
	But if you figure out, if you pull one of these exercises and then maybe an accessory movement on top of that, you should be pretty good.
	What do you think?
	I don't know.
	Yeah, that will cover the basics.
	And then, you know, if you want to optimize, then you need to figure out the muscle, the volume for every individual muscle group, and how well every exercise hits each individual muscle group.
	Then you really get to the fine tuning and the optimization.
	With what you mentioned, you get a decent stimulation of all the basics.
	Yeah.
	Okay, so let's put this all together.
	So we talked about volume, frequency, intensity, and exercise selection.
	So for the audience out there that's watching, they might be like, oh man, this is incredible information.
	I want to put it all together.
	Based on what we talked about, what is like, let's say, a hypothetical good split routine that someone who is a beginner and or intermediate can implement right here, right now after watching this podcast based on the information that we gave?
	Maybe like a blank template that we can give them.
	I'm a big fan of full body training.
	You know, hit three to four times per week.
	Hit every muscle group with at least one good exercise.
	Just one exercise per muscle group can be fine.
	And a couple sets.
	And then you've got your high tension.
	So you check that box.
	You just want to train with very high effort.
	Don't worry so much about the exact rep ranges.
	Worry about progressive overload.
	Doing more reps every time you go to the gym than the last time or adding more weight to the bar.
	And that's mostly just to force yourself to train very hard and to see that you are progressing.
	Do that.
	And that really is the most important thing, like training hard, getting a good volume in of effective exercises, and how many reps you do.
	Even the things like your rest and the like, they are not nearly as important as just getting these basics right consistently for a long period of time.
	Yeah.
	So if you go, so I guess a hypothetical split we could do here is, so you're going in, you're hitting no more than six sets per muscle group, right?
	You're trying to do full body.
	You're going to the gym three to four times per week.
	You go in there, maybe you can start with a leg movement.
	you can start with a lunge.
	Then you go into a push.
	Then you go into a pull.
	Six sets per.
	Then maybe add two accessory movements, right?
	Maybe a bicep curl, then a tricep push down or whatever.
	Maybe three to four sets for those.
	Then coming in next week, do something else.
	Start instead of with a lunge.
	Maybe this time do a deadlift.
	Then go ahead and do a dumbbell press versus a bench press.
	Then go ahead and do a pull-up versus a chin-up.
	And then the third day, go in there, go in with maybe a squat.
	And then a bench press, then a pull of some kind, and then hit those accessory movements.
	Keep each exercise to six sets or below, because we talked about the Krieger and the diminishing returns.
	And that should help you hit your volume and frequency that's needed, right?
	I would say that's a pretty decent beginner movement pattern.
	Mm-hmm.
	Okay.
	And so for the optimization, because this is simply where, you know, you need to, if you want to be like a fully optimized program, you just need to sit down, count the volume and everything.
	Yeah, yeah.
	So we're actually working on an app that can do all of this for you called Cybernetic Fitness.
	It's not out yet, but that should be a really good way to just plug and play, get an optimized program, not only with the AI that can actually do all of this for us, and walk and roll.
	Yeah.
	That's way easier.
	Yeah, and that's kind of the beauty of it because the thing is about with training that so many people get wrong is it's a delicate balance between so many different factors.
	Are you getting enough volume while simultaneously getting enough intensity?
	Is your exercise selection good?
	Frequency, etc.
	So all these things, all these factors come into play where you've got to fine-tune your training.
	Then you've got to fine-tune it even more based on your experience level, right?
	Someone who's more advanced...
	They might be able to get away with doing the full six sets, seven sets, whatever, per workout and be somewhat okay.
	So it depends on the individual, too.
	Let me ask you this, Menno.
	Let's talk about rest periods.
	Obviously, you've got to train hard, short rest periods.
	Some people swear by that.
	Then you've got the other camp that are powerlifters or guys that are more strength-centric, and they're like, no, you need to rest three to five minutes, man, so that you can actually make sure that you actually hit each set and lift as heavy as you can.
	Where should people try to put their rest periods between sets to keep the intensity high while simultaneously still being able to rest adequately to hit proper volume?
	I think most people, they can actually just auto-regulate it.
	I'm not a big proponent of doing things by feel.
	I prefer to go by hard data.
	In this case, though, we have hard data showing that you can do it by feel.
	Okay.
	So I co-offered, together with Brad Schoenfeld, the biggest review paper up until the time showing that the traditional idea of short rest intervals for hypertrophy and long for strength was wrong.
	Long for strength is correct, but for size, long is also better, at least to the extent that it helps you do more volume.
	It all comes down to volume in the end.
	So, longer rest interval means you can do more reps, which is longer time under tension.
	It all comes back to the tension as the growth mechanism.
	And therefore, you get greater gains.
	So, it's not so much about having a fixed rest interval.
	It's about getting the total amount of work.
	Now, if you're very pressed for time, then short rest intervals are good because it's better to do an additional set rather than do one set closer to failure.
	Because we know that doing a set closer to failure, okay, you do two additional reps, or depending on how hard you normally train, maybe you do two additional reps.
	That's, well, two additional reps worth of growth stimulus.
	But if you do an additional set, you can probably hit six plus.
	So that's more growth stimulus.
	So would it be fair to say that you want to be at least...
	Two minutes, but maybe below five minutes?
	Yeah, good for most people that are not pressed for time and trying to hit their workouts in a certain predetermined time period and getting in a lot of volume.
	Most people can just rest until they feel mentally recovered for the next set.
	In particular, don't start your next set until your heart rate and your general out-of-breathness has normalized somewhat.
	Okay.
	All right.
	And I guess that depends on each person's fitness level, right?
	So you can't...
	Yes.
	So women, for example, typically don't need nearly as much rest as men.
	They generally have better cardiorespiratory and cardiovascular...
	Interesting.
	Okay.
	So I guess that you could just feel it out.
	But is there a time where it's like, okay, man, you need to just fucking get in there and train.
	Is it over five minutes?
	Is it over four?
	Is there still a sweet spot that people should be trying to avoid being too long?
	Yeah.
	I mean, if you, if you want to take your sweet ass time, then you can, you can rest as long as you want.
	But after five minutes, it's not doing that much for you anymore.
	Gotcha.
	Okay.
	So below five minutes, I guess, is like the stupid-proof version.
	Yeah.
	Okay.
	Two to five.
	It's hard to go wrong with two to five.
	Okay.
	Let's see here.
	Oh!
	Time under tension.
	What are your thoughts on this?
	I remember roughly 10 years ago, this was all the rage.
	You know, people were going crazy.
	Time under tension, man!
	Occlusion training was exploding, which is basically wrapping up for the audience.
	It's wrapping up the body.
	Sorry, wrapping up like limbs to get more blood flow in there.
	And people were really focused on time under tension.
	I'm going to really slow, you know, the lowering portion of the weight.
	Does it matter that much?
	How important is it to training?
	Was it sensationalized?
	Should people go back to it?
	What do you think?
	Time and retention per se.
	So theoretically, it's very important because we know that it's the tension multiplied by the time and retention that's essentially the growth stimulus.
	However, when it gets to the implementation, most people interpret that to mean as, okay, I'm just going to slow down my reps, get more time and retention, get more gains.
	But it doesn't work that way because if you slow down your reps, you cannot do as many reps.
	And it turns out that that balances out almost perfectly.
	So how slow you do your reps doesn't matter.
	You want to control your reps, otherwise it's not your muscles doing the work.
	But other than that, your tempo is not super important for hypertrophy.
	For strength, you want to be explosive on the way up, the concentric portion.
	Yep, the eccentric portion, the descent, when the muscle is lengthening.
	You want to have control, but the exact tempo just doesn't matter because, like I said, you're trading off more time per rep for fewer reps, and in the end, you get the same total growth stimulus.
	Okay.
	Okay.
	So, I would say time and attention...
	So, it seems as though time and attention is important.
	However, basing your entire training around doing a 10-set again lowering might not be the best way to move.
	Exactly.
	It's a deceptive concept in that it seems the things you would think follow from the knowledge that time and attention is important, they don't actually work.
	So most people actually are best off forgetting about time and attention for internal program design and just focus on training art, taking your shots close to failure, and then all of that takes care of itself.
	Yeah, and I would say the time and attention thing is like you're stepping over dollar bills to pick up quarters.
	Because it's like, okay, you're lowering the dumbbell and you were able to hold it for 10 seconds and lower it down slowly.
	But the fact that you were able to even do that in the first place probably means that you weren't lifting heavy enough because you're able to control that weight.
	So it's like, you know, yeah, you're accomplishing this, but you're using a weight that's so goddamn low that is it even worth it?
	So...
	Okay, and then we talked about the rep ranges, right?
	Between 5 to 30.
	So that could be anywhere between, hell, 50% of your one rep max, maybe even less at that point.
	Yeah, it's about 85% or even 90% all the way down to 30% of your one rep max.
	So up to 30% of your one rep max you can do and still build muscle mass.
	Yep.
	It's funny.
	That can even be more than 30 reps, but I typically don't recommend it.
	Wow.
	It's funny.
	He's talking all the science behind everything that we do in the gym.
	Yeah.
	And it's like, yo, my trainer's right.
	But now I know why he's right.
	Yeah.
	That's so crazy.
	Yeah, it's crazy, right?
	This is good to listen to this.
	Yeah.
	Guys, that's why I brought him on, man.
	He's actually, as y'all can see here, he's one of the ones actually doing the research, man.
	Should we hit some of the questions here, guys?
	I know they probably might be piling up here.
	We'll take a quick break and ask some questions because I did have some more questions on meal timing and frequency, which I know we're going to piss a lot of people off on that one, going back to the dieting because so many people are zealots when it comes to that.
	But we'll go ahead and hit some of your guys' questions.
	Hell, you guys might even have some questions about mealtime and frequency.
	And I also want to talk about sugar, too.
	Because sugar gets demonized in the fitness world.
	And I think...
	I'll talk about that here in a second.
	We'll get into it.
	Yeah.
	Alright, let's go ahead and hit some of these questions.
	Yeah, but we got time.
	Let's see here.
	We got...
	One second, one second.
	We are right.
	Shoujo.
	JoJo?
	Okay.
	I'm 215, was 260, I'm on a 2,000 calorie deficit, eating 200 grams of protein in the gym, trying to keep strength.
	But my weight loss has slowed down.
	I don't want to go lower than 2,000 calories.
	I'm 6 foot, good muscle, under 2K, just seems too low, but I'm still fat as fuck.
	What do I do?
	And this is from JoJo, not a bad question.
	What do you think, Menno?
	Okay, so the question, if I can summarize it, is...
	Can you bring it up on screen, Bills?
	You think...
	Go ahead, Meno.
	I'll read it back to you one more time, Meno, real fast for you.
	Because he threw a lot there.
	And we'll try to see if we can get on screen for you as well.
	It was JoJo.
	He's 215.
	He was 260.
	He's on 2,000 calories, eating 200 grams of protein per day, and he's trying to keep his strength.
	But his weight loss has slowed down, so he's basically hit a plateau when it comes to fat loss.
	But he doesn't want to go under 2,000 calories.
	Okay, yeah, I got it.
	So this is a very common question, or a theme, a common question theme.
	The first thing you always have to do is, because this happens all the time, I get lots of clients.
	Most of my PT course students, they ask me this.
	I have a client and they're on X calories and they're not losing weight.
	What do I do?
	Because I think they should be losing weight.
	First, you have to check Are you actually on that energy intake?
	Yeah.
	Because many people, they eat more than they think.
	They're forgetting about that Starbucks coffee, that latte that was actually 500 calories.
	They're not measuring the peanut butter that they put on their bread and they think it's like 30 grams, but in reality that's like heaping scoops.
	It's like almost double that.
	And yeah, people just make mistakes.
	They measure their food cooked instead of raw, for example.
	A lot of ways people can go wrong with their energy intake.
	So really take a very hard, serious, strict look at what you're eating and are you forgetting anything?
	Are you tracking well?
	Are you actually on that energy intake?
	Are you factoring those meals out?
	You know, did you think that that meal was maybe 500 calories?
	Did you actually weigh the food?
	If you have all of that in order, then the next question is, are you really not losing fat?
	And first of all, you need to check your weight, because some people, they do lose weight, and they might just have wrong expectations.
	They just think, oh, I'm supposed to lose a pound per week, and it's not happening anymore.
	It might be fine.
	Also, check if your waist circumference or your skin folds, ideally something like that, something that really tests your body fat level, not just your weight.
	Because what I see as well, and what I get a lot of my students when they start designing programs for their clients, they actually don't lose weight on a fat loss program because they recomp.
	They're building muscle and losing fat at the same time, and you actually remain weight stable.
	If you're not super advanced, this is basically the goal.
	This is as good as it gets.
	So a lot of people think that Oh, I'm not losing weight, I'm doing something wrong.
	But they're actually in like that sweet spot, 20% energy deficit or something, losing fat, gaining muscle, great.
	You get the best of both worlds.
	If you then decrease energy intake further, then what happens is they start losing muscle.
	And they are happy because now they're losing weight, but they're no longer building muscle and they actually start losing some.
	So we saw in one Gartha study, for example, that you can actually go from recomping to losing marginally more fat or not even more fat and just start losing muscle.
	And so that's not good either.
	So ideally you want some measure of whether you're losing fat, not just weight.
	And then, when you have that in order, and you are indeed not losing fat, your energy intake is as it should be, then the logical conclusion of that is, well, you just have to go lower in energy intake.
	If you're not losing fat on your current energy intake, for sure, then you have to go lower in energy intake.
	That's physics.
	And maybe you shouldn't be on this energy intake, your body doesn't care, it's physics.
	Like, if you're not losing fat, then you're not in energy deficit on this energy intake, so you need to go lower.
	Man, I want to really applaud you on that.
	That was one of the best answers I've seen.
	And the reason why is because I've gotten this question when I was a coach myself.
	This is probably one of the most common, prevalent questions when it comes to weight loss for the purposes of aesthetics.
	Are you eating the right amount of calories?
	I can't tell you how many people don't properly track their calories.
	They don't even have a food scale.
	They're not using MyFitnessPal or one of these calorie tracking apps.
	Every bite or munch or morsel of food that you eat needs to be measured, guys, when you're trying to lose weight.
	And a lot of people just suck at tracking or they're not tracking at all, or they're trying to eyeball it, and it just doesn't work that way.
	And then you also mentioned, are you taking...
	Maybe using calipers or using a tape measure to take your measurements in because yeah, the scale might not move anywhere, but you might be losing some inches or whatever off of your waist.
	So I think these are all very important things that you need to make sure that you have in check before lowering calories.
	And I don't know if you guys noticed, he made changing your calories the last resort, making sure you had everything else in order first.
	Do you have all these things in order?
	If you do, then yeah, you probably need to go ahead and drop your calories.
	But I think, you know, less is more and doing the minimum invasive tactic is the best way to go first and then whittle it down from there.
	Man, Don DeMarco, bro.
	Yeah, man, I'm gonna give him a Don DeMarco.
	Bro, that's fucking awesome, man.
	It's crazy.
	He just described how I felt for the past couple weeks.
	I'm like, damn, I'm not losing weight, but I'm gaining muscle.
	At the same time, I'm in that sweet spot where I'm gaining muscle, but I'm not losing weight.
	But you've got to check your measurements, too.
	That's a big one.
	That's one of the things that so many trainees don't do.
	And also, another thing I used to do as well was I would take a picture of myself every week.
	Now, it starts to get monotonous after a bit, but when you start scrolling down and you look like a month or two later, you'll see a difference.
	You'll be like, oh, wow.
	And I would always take the picture same day, same time of day, once per week, and then just have it, and I'll just have a log.
	And that's really helpful.
	And then take your measurements as well.
	If you're doing all that, like Menno said, and you're not losing weight, then you can go ahead and go back to the drawing board and lower the calories.
	But that's what a good answer.
	What if girls tell you that you're getting muscle and they can feel it?
	Does that help too?
	Nah, man.
	That don't count, man.
	These hoes be lying, bro.
	Okay.
	What else do we got here?
	Okay.
	To the Ninja Saiyan Maragato game, please watch the full IRL stream video and shut the fuck up.
	Yeah.
	I mean, people are going to hate, man.
	A lot of girls I was talking to didn't want to be on camera, so that's why I was off camera so much.
	I was womanizing.
	RailerX, I enjoy listening to your shows.
	Thanks for the great content.
	Thank you, Railers.
	Lingling goes, does he know of any studies comparing animal-based proteins to vegan protein?
	Oh, this is going to be a good one.
	Also, does he consider all types of calories to be equal?
	Example, 500 calories of chips versus steak.
	This is a fantastic question.
	What are your thoughts, Mano?
	So the first question is, animal-based protein versus vegan protein?
	And the second one is, does 500 calories from chips versus steak count, which I think he's just trying to show maybe a lower quality food versus a higher quality food?
	Does it matter?
	All right.
	I have a hard stop at nine, but we can still get into these and probably have time for one more or so.
	Yeah.
	And for the first question, animal versus vegan protein quality.
	Yes.
	Does it matter?
	Yes, it matters.
	Not as much as we used to think.
	Theoretically, animal quality is of much higher quality because it has better digestibility.
	The body has trouble digesting plants, they have fiber, they have defense mechanisms that are not easy for the body to absorb and digest.
	That is a negative factor, plus the amino acid mixture, like all the different amino acids that are in the protein, they are very different from the body.
	Like a piece of steak, the amino acid mixture in that is very close to that of our meat.
	Animal meat of all kinds at a biological level is not that dissimilar.
	So when you get a cow or chicken or steak, whatever, Mm-hmm.
	However, it seems that the body is very good at using the different amino acids from different foods and also using the free amino acid pool to basically mix and match and create the non-essential amino acids from the other ones.
	So you need some additional protein.
	My recommendation, typically, if you want to keep it simple, is if you want to do a completely plant-based diet, then increase your protein intake by some 20%, about 1 gram per pound, or if you want to be exact, I think it's 2.3 gram per kilogram.
	That's about optimal.
	If you supplement royally with a protein powder that's 80% pea protein, 20% rice protein, that's a really good mixture with almost a high-quality protein source, both in digestibility and in the amino acid mixture.
	So you don't need that much additional protein.
	If you're just winging it and just eating whatever as a vegan, then your protein intake might be very, very high if you want to be optimal, because you might be covered for all the amino acids, but leucine is still very low, or lysine is still very low.
	There are some of these amino acids that you just might be lacking, and if they're essential, you're limited, you're rate limited by that amino acid.
	It matters, and you need additional protein, but the question is how much, and if you rely on a protein powder, then the answer is not that much extra.
	Yeah, and I... Who was it?
	I gotta give credit to Lane Norton.
	I know he made a video about this, and he said exactly what you said, that, unfortunately, plant-based protein just doesn't have the same quality because it's lacking in leucine, which I think, if I'm not mistaken, please correct me, Menno, is the number one amino acid when it comes to muscle protein synthesis.
	And vegan proteins simply just don't have enough of it.
	So you need to consume more vegan protein to get the same quality of protein that you would get from an animal-based product.
	Yeah, that's basically true, yeah.
	Okay.
	So yeah, guys, so all the vegans out there, man, y'all can stay vegan, but maybe what you said, they should be consuming maybe 2.3 per kilogram of grams of protein?
	Yeah, if you were around the protein partner, you're going to be good with that amount.
	Okay.
	So versus an animal guy is consuming, you said 1.7 per kilogram.
	Yeah, I typically recommend 1.8 if you really want max gains.
	1.6 in the literature is enough, but 1.8 should really get you covered.
	Okay, and if you're doing protein to be safe, 2.3.
	Yeah, as a vegan.
	Bam.
	Okay.
	Man, you guys better like the goddamn video, bro.
	You're not going to get value like this anywhere else.
	Let's see here.
	Do we got a bunch of these questions still?
	We might have to do a part two or just simply Q&A for the people because Mano's got to go, guys.
	He's a busy man.
	And he's on European time, so he's here in the United States right now.
	We'll do a part two.
	Yeah, we could do a part two.
	Let's see here.
	We'll try to fire around these questions here.
	We've got a few more minutes.
	When is Andrew Tate coming on the show again?
	Shout out to from Stockholm.
	Torin Danz and LaVidio.
	Oh, okay.
	I can't pronounce that.
	But don't worry, guys.
	Very soon.
	Trust me.
	Very soon.
	Big Dude goes, I'm 6'290 pounds.
	How much calories should I eat in a day to lose fat?
	Should I not eat carbs?
	And how much protein?
	Thanks, WGuess.
	Menno, what do you suggest for people to figure out their maintenance calories?
	Because it seems to me as though that's the starting point that people need to figure out first and then kind of go from there, how much calories they need to consume per day to maintain their weight, and then they could choose to go up or down from there.
	How should people figure that out, their TDEE? Yeah, that's something that requires a bit of calculation again and just doing some work.
	If you want to get a decent idea, you can Google something like catch McArdle, BMR calculator.
	Or the Cunningham 1991 formula.
	That's a pretty decent starting point.
	In the app we're making, this will all be automatic.
	So that's the easy way.
	But otherwise, yeah, you just have to do the research and look up a formula like that.
	And then you have to factor in Firmic Factor Food Factor and Activity Factor and your resistance training level.
	And it will spit out a number.
	The accuracy of that depends on how well you put in the inputs, so it just requires a bit of research.
	Real quick, when it comes to measuring calories as well, for example, calories from a chips or from steak.
	Oh shit, we forgot that one, sorry.
	How do you break that down?
	Because that's actually a very good question.
	Yeah, it's 500 calories from steak versus chips the same.
	How do you break that down?
	They are almost the same.
	They are not exactly the same because especially if you're comparing a higher protein versus a lower protein food, there's going to be a difference in the firmic effect of food.
	So basically the steak is going to increase your energy expenditure more than the chips.
	The chips are going to have very little effect on your energy expenditure.
	It's very easy for the body to metabolize, digest, and absorb them.
	And the steak is going to require a bit more energy to process.
	It's going to stimulate muscle protein synthesis.
	So there's a lot more going on in the body which increases energy expenditure.
	But you're looking at differences of 10, 20% at the very, very most.
	So big picture is just total caloric intake.
	And then, yes, the type of energy source does matter, especially when it's protein versus non-protein.
	But there's also one study, for example, where they compared very processed versus non-processed foods.
	And they also found about a 10% difference in firmic effect of food.
	So if you go from a pure crap junk food diet to a healthier diet, you will find that probably you can increase your energy intake by some 10, maybe 20% at the very most level and get similar fat loss.
	So there is something to be gained by eating healthier and less processed foods, but it's not nearly as important as simply the total energy intake.
	Damn, that's a pretty good breakdown.
	Yeah, no, I think that's...
	Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, that's super important because, like, people tend to...
	I mean, I hate to say a calorie is a calorie, but the data just shows a lot of the times a calorie is a calorie, and, like, you know, yeah, you might get the thermic effect of food when you eat more protein, right, which will help, but it doesn't make as big of a difference as...
	I think they've done a study on this.
	Please correct me if I'm wrong.
	They took two groups of people.
	One, they fed them nothing but crap, like sugar, high fructose, corn syrup, diet, whatever it may be, but they kept protein and calories the same, and they found that there was virtually no difference in body composition change between the two groups, even though one group ate a bunch of crap and the other group ate a more healthy diet.
	They've done multiple studies like that, actually, with different types of sugar, replacing rice with sugar, different types of carbs.
	I also have an article called, Is a Carb a Carb?
	And the answer is yes, it is.
	So it's well established now in research that the type of where you get your calories from, especially given the same protein intake, is minor compared to simply the total energy intake.
	And the other thing, too, I think that will piss people off, because people like to demonize sugar a lot, right?
	Which I'm not saying, I'm not advocating, go run around and eat sugar, but I think it's important people realize, like, the sugar doesn't necessarily make you fat.
	It's the calorie surplus that makes you fat.
	And people don't want to track calories, they just want to say sugar's bad for you.
	And I know that there was another study that came out where they fed people sugar versus no sugar, and they found that as long as the person was in a caloric deficit and they lost weight, their health markers improved pretty much the same, even when they ate crappy food.
	yeah being lean is incredibly good for your health and it turns out that it's so much more important than even the diet quality that most people that eat a total crap diet as long as they lose fat they still get healthier there's a famous professor that did the twinkie diet or something he called it and he basically just ate junk food but only a little bit so he was almost fasting and then he supplemented some essential nutrients and whatever and he lost a lot of fat and his blood work also massively improved wow that's just one guy there are multiple studies that back this up
	but i think it's uh for most people it resonates more when you see an actual person that had it um And I made all the news at the time as well.
	Yeah.
	And for the idiots out there, we're not telling you go eat junk food.
	We're simply telling you that it's the calories that's the most important thing.
	And losing the body fat, that's the most important thing, versus what you consume.
	Sorry, first you're going to say something.
	Yeah, real quick, before you go, so I actually found your videos looking for TRT, like, you know, some research on TRT on YouTube, and just a quick question from me.
	So, in this case, right, let's say I'm a guy that's interested in doing TRT. What age should I even look into it and get on it, versus should I do it right away?
	What do you think I'll take there?
	Super short answer, we can go into this in great detail in the follow-up, but super short answer for most people, annual blood work is a good idea for anyone, and especially beyond the age of 50, and absolutely mandatory at age 65, do your blood work, check if your T levels are normal, and if especially free or bioavailable testosterone is not normal, validate it.
	If it's again below the normal range, then you definitely want to consider TRT. Do you think they should optimize their training, lifestyle, sleep, diet before they get on the TRT and pretty much exhaust all natural options and remedies prior to going on that?
	Because there's no turning back once you go to the dark side, right?
	Yes.
	Yeah, I mean, there is, but you do risk.
	It's a risk factor.
	So you definitely want to have everything optimized.
	In my experience, though, this is people that are doing the blood work and they are lifters and all these things.
	They typically have the basics in order anyway.
	And there's not that much.
	It's not like if you have the basics in order and you're going to fine-tune how much avocado you eat, sugar and testosterone are going to triple.
	Probably not anymore.
	But yeah, if your lifestyle is not in order, sleep, smoking, alcohol use, all those big factors, if those are not in order, then you definitely have to get those in check first.
	I asked because I'm not actually on it, but I was actually like offered it.
	However, Myron said- I told him don't do it.
	Yeah, don't do it.
	I'm not going to do it.
	Yeah.
	But just real quick though.
	You made the video, you said TRT has R in it for replace.
	So when you start doing TRT, what happens is you said it replaces the actual generation of testosterone inside of you, right?
	So doing a young age is bad, I would assume.
	Doing it too young?
	Because you become dependent on it, right?
	Yeah, you're shutting down your natural production.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Mano, I guess what we could do is...
	Because you got a dip right now, right?
	Yep.
	Okay.
	So we'll bring it back, guys, for part two, and we'll probably make that just strictly Q&A. Yeah.
	What I could do is we'll stay on air and we'll answer the questions that came in.
	But no, Mano, before you go, can you please tell the people where they are?
	I know they're going to probably definitely want to find you and get some of your content.
	Where's the best place to find you?
	Do you coach a new mentor as well?
	Because this is really good info.
	Yeah.
	I told y'all, man.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, menohanselmans.com.
	I'm mostly active on Instagram and YouTube, at menohanselmans.
	So you can find me there.
	And you can also get a free email newsletter.
	If you like this type of stuff, then if you go to my website, you'll immediately get it spanned right in your face.
	And if you get your email in there, you get a lot of free email course lessons, like a tour of my most popular contents.
	And I really like the fact that you put out studies all the time.
	Like, guys, if you go look at his stuff, he's always putting out new studies on hypertrophy, muscle and fitness, getting your body on point.
	So this guy is one of the most up-to-date researchers when it comes to hypertrophy and overall body improvement when it comes to composition.
	So check him out, guys.
	I'm telling y'all, he's solid.
	You guys obviously saw.
	I'm going to put some of these studies in the description for you guys, too.
	He cited a bunch of studies here.
	But, you know, Mano, thank you so much for coming, and we'll do a part two for sure.
	Thanks, Mano.
	My pleasure.
	I hope you can come on the show again.
	Yeah, absolutely, man.
	All right, appreciate it.
	See you guys.
	Later.
	So funny.
	Yeah, no man.
	Yo, WGuess, guys?
	Hell yeah.
	WGuess?
	WGuess.
	Come on, man.
	What other podcast doing this?
	One day we're on a fucking yacht, you know, IRL streaming with y'all.
	And then next day we're, you know, we're talking about getting you guys on point, getting you guys in shape for the new year.
	And that's what we do over here, man.
	We're not going to sit here and say we're the number one men's podcast and not give you guys a bunch of value.
	And stay tuned, man.
	We're going to really get into this fitness niche more.
	I'm going to try to bring on more people like that that y'all probably don't know who they are but are actually involved in the research.
	Because if you look at a lot of these big fitness YouTubers, guys, they're citing his work.
	They're citing Schoenfeld's work.
	They're citing all these guys' work.
	So versus instead of bringing one of these guys on, these big YouTubers, why not bring the source themselves that's actually doing the research in the lab?
	Yeah, because they don't get the actual recognition for what they do.
	Yeah, because they don't go fuck, they're not YouTubers, they're scientists.
	All the club people get the road.
	Yeah, you know what I mean?
	Tell you what you want to hear.
	So, I'd rather go directly to the source for y'all, man.
	So, and we'll do a part two.
	But yeah, we want to make sure that we get y'all handled here in the chat.
	Because I'll probably answer most of your questions.
	Obviously, men will be able to cite the study and tell you guys exactly why XYZ, but I can tell y'all I'll cover a lot of it as well.
	What do we got here?
	Blackbird goes, I was very happy to see the team doing great last stream.
	Fresh be destroying these Chinese girls.
	Oh, LOL. That was my first one, actually.
	CGM goes, Hello, I am in a fast until 1 p.m.
	and train from 12 p.m., eat a big meal, and directly after I lift, I seem to still be able to progressively overload.
	Should I still eat a meal prior to each lift?
	No, you don't have to, bro.
	If it's working for you, that's fine.
	He said as little as 20 grams of carbohydrates is going to stave off that entor situation.
	Crackhead goes, for the love of God, what rep range should I be doing?
	Been bulking for the past eight years now, cutting calories and lifting, doing 12 reps in four sets.
	I want to have aesthetic build.
	Also, is there no benefit to cardio at all?
	Also, my bench not going up.
	Well, he just told you guys, anywhere between five to 30 reps will help you build muscle mass.
	Your situation is, if you're trying to lose weight, man, you're not putting yourself into calorie deficit.
	And he answered that question pretty well with like, you know, are you measuring your food properly?
	Then, okay, are you properly measuring your progress as far as your body composition?
	Are you taking your waist measurements, etc.?
	If all those things are in check, then we need to go back to the drawing board and lower your calories.
	Now we got how to optimize nutrition for sports like boxing.
	That's from TrueFit360.
	I can tell you how this is a prior endurance athlete.
	You're going to need a lot of carbohydrates.
	And you mentioned subtly as well, is carb loading and endurance athlete practices do work.
	But yeah, you're going to need more carbohydrates as an endurance athlete versus what I would consider a cosmetic athlete, like a bodybuilder or a guy that wants to look good on the beach.
	Is there an optimal way to lose fat to prevent loose skin and stretch marks as much as possible?
	That's losing fat slow.
	I know some of you guys are very critical of how we're getting Mo to lose weight, but that's a part of the reason why I have him on a slow deficit, is that he's losing the weight in a way where, number one, it's sustainable, and then number two, he's not going to look like shit after the fact, or we're trying to mitigate him looking like shit after.
	And that's unfortunately what quick fat loss does, especially when you're really heavy.
	Johnny Blaze goes, I lost 40 pounds in three months.
	I might open up my fitness coaching for y'all back again because you guys really have a lot of these questions.
	It's just that it's very time consuming and I really like to make sure that I give people my all and it's very difficult to do that while doing the pod.
	But I think I have a...
	Hey, nigga, you got time now, man.
	Overwatch less time, more time for them.
	Yeah, let's go, buddy!
	Well, we'll figure that out.
	Well, I'm trying to stream that.
	Go Overwatch.
	Stream both.
	No, man.
	Stream, like, helping the clients out?
	Help a client play Overwatch.
	Nah, man.
	I gotta be attentive, bro.
	What the hell?
	This is like a fresh...
	Man!
	The fuck, man?
	Alright.
	Let's see here.
	But I might open it back up, but if I do, I ain't gonna lie to y'all, man.
	I'm gonna have to increase my prices and carry way less clients.
	Probably no more than 10.
	I remember at the height of my fitness business, I had like 75.
	But that's a lot, dude.
	By yourself?
	By myself.
	That was a lot, man.
	So if I did, I'd have to do it where it's a small group of guys and a certain price point.
	It won't be cheap.
	But if people really want it, we could do it.
	Ivan goes, what is the best way to measure body fat?
	Why most problematic areas in my stomach where I have little pouch?
	God bless FNF Myron WFresh.
	So you can't target fat loss, my friend.
	That's just going to come down to a sustainable long-term diet.
	And then, you know, everyone loses body fat at different rates in different areas.
	Some people tend to hold body fat in their stomach more than others.
	Some people tend to hold body fat in their biceps.
	So it really depends on you, but you got to put that calorie deficit to use for a long period of time and go from there.
	Michael Mode goes, Hey FNF, Happy New Year's to all.
	Question for the guest star.
	Does red light therapy or sauna have any benefits for fat loss?
	We can ask that.
	From my knowledge, no.
	Your most important thing is calorie deficit.
	This other stuff is all bullshit a lot of times, guys.
	It comes down to energy deficit.
	What else do we got here?
	Six Minute Man.
	My lower abs won't show no matter how much skinny I am.
	Could it be trapped air in the pelvic region?
	No, you need to develop that portion from a hypertrophy level.
	I will start doing more lower ab movements and then also start using resistance.
	And what's going to end up happening is you're going to build muscle in that area so it'll be more visible when your body fat percentage is low.
	Guys, when you're ripped and you look good and you got muscles popping out, all that is is muscle development coupled with low body fat.
	That's all it is when you look ripped.
	That's simply what it is.
	So you got to lift the weights, do the resistance training, build the muscle mass up.
	After you do that, then you put yourself into calorie deficit, lose the body fat, and then bam, voila.
	The muscle mass that you worked so hard to build is now revealed and it's visible through the low body fat percentage.
	That's all it is.
	Niggas said air in the pelvic region.
	Yeah, I don't know.
	Oh my goodness.
	Yeah.
	East Serpent goes up 6'3", 205.
	Menno said 1.7 minimum per protein per pound of body weight.
	No, he said per kilogram.
	Per kilogram, my friends.
	That's different.
	So I would need over 200 grams of protein a day.
	I heard if you're natural, your body can't even utilize that much protein, so you should get less protein if you're natural.
	Is this true?
	Well, yeah, bro.
	I think he said 0.7 per pound of body weight in pounds, and then per kilogram, 1.7.
	But I always say one gram per pound of body weight to keep it simple stupid.
	So just say 205, bro, and you'll be fine.
	Hello, Shanta, Discord and Big Mo.
	I'm a college student where my gym is free, but my question is, do you think it's a good idea to eat Chipotle for a source of protein, and what's a good meal there?
	Also, what is a healthy carb and fat to eat for 5-11?
	We talked about healthy carb versus non-healthy carb.
	It makes almost no difference in body composition.
	Number two, as far as Chipotle, guys, I eat Chipotle every single day when I lost to 50 pounds.
	What I always do is I get a bowl, white rice, black beans, mild salsa, and then double chicken.
	Boom.
	Simple.
	And you're getting your protein from the beans and the chicken, double chicken, of course, and that's a pretty good one right there.
	Fat loss, but don't want too much loose skin, 6.5, 360.
	Yeah, you got to lose the fat nice and slow, my friend.
	But like you said with Menno, you could go up to damn near 30%, 40% calorie deficit and be fine when you're obese.
	195 pounds, 507, workout daily, need to burn off body fat, shit getting beefy, though, I swear.
	What food to calorie deficit and not be malnourished?
	You make me better.
	What to calorie?
	What?
	What foods?
	You don't need to worry about being malnourished, nigga.
	You overnourished.
	Don't worry about malnourishment, bro.
	You overnourished.
	So you need to lose that body fat.
	Peter Table goes, based on your experience, how long do you think someone needs to go to the gym consistently in order to see some results?
	You also have the right mindset of long-term training.
	Well, if you're training optimally, you're going to see results in as little as three to six months that are pretty tangible.
	I have.
	Yeah.
	So you just got to make sure that you're optimal.
	TrueFit360, how to utilize nutrition for weight?
	Cut sports to have the most energy on match day while maintaining weight?
	Nice and slow calorie deficit, bro.
	Give yourself enough time to diet, especially when you're training for sports that are required to be at a certain weight.
	Because if you diet too aggressively, that's going to fuck you up, especially since you're going to be training hard with cardio and multiple training sessions.
	So you want to diet down nice and slow.
	Don't crash diet, guys.
	You will fuck yourself up doing that.
	What else?
	Micah Bell, how many grams of protein per pound is optimal to consume every day?
	Is there a limit your body can use effectively?
	Let's say for a 150 pound man who wants to maintain his weight while replacing fat with muscle.
	One gram per pound of body weight is optimal.
	It's a little bit more than what Mano suggested, which is.7.
	He said bare minimum.7.
	But if you go one gram, I'm on the side of caution.
	So if you get one gram, it's better to have it extra and not need it than not have it in the first place.
	You want to make sure that you have adequate bricks to build the house, right?
	If you try to build a house and you have more bricks on the side, cool.
	Who cares?
	But if you don't have enough bricks to build a house, now you run into a problem.
	So you're better off with just taking one gram per pound of body weight.
	I need help.
	My ex left her 5'5", 30-year-old ex for me, and she's 22.
	I'm 22, 5'11", fit and attractive.
	Make about 90k, probably made about 50k.
	She texted him happy birthday behind my back and broke up with me three days later.
	Go back to him, I'm confused.
	Fuck that bitch, bro.
	Who cares?
	Why do you care, bro?
	Nigga, move on, bro.
	Yeah, man.
	Yo, guys, stop getting one-itis with these girls, bro.
	Nigga, she chose, bro.
	She's choosing who she want to be with.
	Not you.
	Simple.
	Yeah, bro.
	Just move on and not care, bro.
	You got one-itis, my friend.
	Yeah.
	Who cares?
	Fuck that bitch.
	Like, y'all really, like, you just gotta...
	Guys, be cool with the fact that, like, girls are gonna be hot and cold.
	Like, they'll be in you one minute, and then another minute, like, they'll just, like, lose interest, and you might not even know why.
	It's not your job to find out why.
	Again...
	It's your job to fucking remind her why she's useless and just go find another girl.
	Like, who cares?
	Enjoy the experience for what it is.
	Yeah.
	Not make it what it isn't, which means making it long-term.
	Bro, it's a short period of time.
	Enjoy the experience and get out.
	Yeah, fuck that bitch.
	Who cares, bro?
	Should do you a favor, bro.
	Any coach you would recommend?
	Anyone that's based on...
	Yeah, I mean...
	Any coach that's based on evidence-based research, I haven't launched my stuff yet, but it seems like a lot of you guys want to get in shape, so I'll put something together and we'll do something maybe Wednesday.
	Listen, we got you.
	DM Myron Coach.
	He'll put you on the waiting list.
	Yeah, there you go.
	So whenever you make it, boom.
	I'll have it up and running by this week, hopefully.
	Or email FNFReach at gmail.com.
	But if you DM me in capital letters, Coach...
	I'm going to be honest with y'all.
	If you don't have at least $1,000 to invest, don't even message me.
	Don't even message me.
	Serious clients only.
	Only serious.
	I'm going to give you all a tangible number.
	If you don't even have $1,000 to invest, don't even bother messaging me.
	And I'm not saying that to be an asshole or whatever.
	It's just that I got to protect my time.
	Obviously, the podcast comes first, which is why I put the fitness business to the side.
	To focus on this and getting new equipment and make the podcast better because obviously you have a certain amount of mental energy, right?
	It's very mentally draining, guys, to deal with these bimbos every single night and also give you all a daytime show and be alert and aware for each of them.
	So if I'm going to do this, I'm going to work with a smaller clientele.
	The price point is going to be high so I can ensure that I'm giving them the best quality service while simultaneously making sure that the podcast is at the highest level.
	Yeah.
	If you're serious, you got at least a thousand bucks you want to invest, you want me to work with you directly, hit my Instagram, unplugfitcoach, in all caps, and what I'll do is I'll flag your DM, and when I roll it out, we'll make something happen.
	But yeah, it's 2024.
	A lot of y'all want this stuff.
	I get asked all the time.
	So I'll roll it back out.
	But I'm going to keep, you know, no more than like 10 to 20 clients.
	Absolute max.
	I can't handle more than that.
	Cool.
	What else?
	And I do everything through an app for guys that are wondering.
	It's all automated through an app.
	Jordan1 says, Hey guys, question for Fit.
	Is Brickle Miami a good market to get property rented out on short-term rentals?
	Fuck no.
	Oh, short-term?
	There's a down season there during May to October.
	Who wants to do Airbnb though?
	He's going to struggle.
	Yeah, most properties here don't allow Airbnb.
	And if they catch you, you are going to be...
	So, try again.
	Maybe Edgewater might be better for you at downtown.
	Yeah.
	But Brickle itself, nah.
	Brickle is very non-Airbnb friendly.
	Bro, what?
	There's only like two buildings that allow here?
	There's two.
	That I can think of?
	And they pretty much sold out.
	So, good luck with that one.
	Yeah.
	I can only think of two buildings that will actually let you Airbnb and Brickle, bro.
	Yeah.
	And honestly...
	Look, I don't want to sound like a doomer here or whatever, but they already banned Airbnb in New York City.
	And I see a trend where a lot of major cities in the United States are probably going to follow suit and ban Airbnb.
	So if you're an Airbnb real estate guy...
	Especially if you're in a blue state or whatever, start looking to pivot towards long-term rentals, guys.
	Or long-term.
	Because a lot of people like to buy the property and just Airbnb it.
	Yeah, you'll make a lot of money on-season or whatever, but it's a little bit more of a pain in the ass because you've got to...
	Hire a cleaning team.
	People aren't going to care about your shit.
	You're going to have to probably make fixes all the time because when you have Airbnb tenants, they don't care, bro.
	They're going to come in and mess your place up.
	Especially if you're in a party location like in Miami or whatever, which is why they don't allow Airbnbs at most of the buildings here in Brickell because this is a residential neighborhood.
	They want it to be higher class.
	They don't want riffraff here.
	So there's only one to two buildings in Brickell that allow Airbnb in the first place.
	And to be honest with y'all, those buildings kind of suck.
	So, um...
	Yeah.
	I know, I know.
	Fuck, what's the name of it?
	Is it the Yacht Club?
	No.
	I'm trying to remember what's the name of the building.
	It's right next to the 7-Eleven by Panorama.
	I forget the goddamn name of the building, though.
	Nah.
	It's some club.
	I know they do Airbnbs, but that building sucks.
	Yeah, bro.
	I would stay...
	Nah, it's not the Yacht Club.
	It's something club, though.
	Oh, no.
	But, yo, I would stay away from Airbnbs in Brickell, bro.
	If you're gonna...
	You won't be able to do it.
	Edgewater's fine.
	But if you want to do it in Edgewater, I think downtown Miami has some buildings that you can do it as well.
	Downtown for sure.
	But, you know...
	I... I don't like investing in condos in Miami, bro.
	Keep it a thousand with y'all.
	The HOAs are too goddamn high.
	You're not going to cash flow like that.
	And then finding Airbnb in itself is going to be a little bit tougher.
	So I'm a fan of investing in the city of Miami, but staying away from these luxurious buildings where the HOAs are damn near $1,000 a month or whatever.
	If you're running a business or something like that, like me, you guys know I bought this condo, but it's different because we're running a biz out of it, whatever, I'm able to write shit off.
	But if you're just living there and stuff, it might not be, or you're renting out, excuse me, Renting it out, even Airbnb-ing it, might not be enough to offset the ridiculous HOA fees that you're going to pay and the risk that you put yourself in, where if you're Airbnb-ing out your unit, you might get kicked out by the association.
	So you've got to weigh all these things out.
	I know that's a very complicated answer, but it's a complicated situation.
	Forex goes, I'm 5'5", 150 pounds, trying to bulk, but I feel like I'm losing weight.
	Eat about 200 grams of protein.
	What could I be doing wrong?
	You're not eating enough calories.
	If you're losing weight, by definition, you're not eating enough calories.
	Guys, it's science.
	There's no way around it.
	To lose weight, you must be in a calorie deficit.
	To gain weight, you must be in a calorie surplus.
	To maintain your weight, you must be in a calorie maintenance.
	Em Will goes, I'm 99.
	I was a small argument when my growing became big because I didn't understand why.
	Shortly after I stumbled across your pod with Dr.
	Ori and everything he talks about is gold and I learned a lot.
	You earned a subscriber to WFNF. Thank you so much, man.
	I appreciate that.
	Good job, bro.
	Try to bring out that value, man.
	The old lady with the crazy face expression was trying to pick a fight with Myron.
	He only value was her husband.
	If that don't stamp what Myron says about women value, I don't know what else will.
	Yeah, bro.
	I just ignored her the whole time.
	She was annoying.
	She was annoying as fuck, bro.
	And she wanted attention so bad and she was like, bro, you're old.
	Like, nigga, stop, man.
	That's...
	Honestly, you know what's kind of funny?
	She might have been hot back in her day and she wasn't used to that shit.
	You know what I mean?
	Like, yo, niggas just ignoring me.
	What the fuck?
	Give me attention.
	But whatever, bro.
	We don't want to talk to you.
	You old.
	She's on something.
	Yeah, she was on...
	I don't know what the fuck was wrong with her, bro, but I was just ignoring her.
	When it comes to losing weight, how crucial is it to not consume alcohol?
	I've had someone say one day of drinking sets you back at least one week in the gym.
	Also, WFNF. Happy New Year's, fellas.
	Yeah, don't drink, bro.
	If you're serious about going to the gym and everything else like that, just avoid drinking it altogether.
	Yeah.
	You know, I could tell you, oh, one won't kill you or whatever, but I know a lot of y'all are going to go crazy.
	So just avoid alcohol altogether if your goal is optimizing hypertrophy.
	Never know, fresh start, and vacation, friends.
	Okay.
	I don't wear glasses.
	All right.
	What are your thoughts on meat and vegetables, only diets, no heavy carbs?
	That's fine if you want, but it's going to be a lot harder to hit your calorie goals, you know?
	And also, when you tip in Castle Club, you can add pictures in.
	You can add photos when you tip in.
	Oh, shit.
	Okay.
	So, yeah, so he tipped it and added a picture with it.
	And a photo in.
	That's funny.
	What are your thoughts on the peptides?
	Nigga.
	A whole bunch of them.
	I've seen Eugene Christensen of TRT Clinics now administrating these shots as one.
	I've listened to Dr.
	Andrew Galpin and Andrew Hubberman discuss them.
	Look, bro.
	When it comes to using any type of performance-enhancing drugs...
	I'm against it.
	And the reason why I'm against it is because it's a crutch for a lot of y'all and you guys don't have the rudimentary basics down and you guys want to go ahead and jump on gear.
	Learn the basics first.
	Optimize and squeeze all the juice out of your natural potential before you think about sticking a needle in your ass.
	And the reason why is because once you get on the TRT, like we discussed before, there's no going back once you go to the dark side.
	Yeah.
	Okay?
	So maximize your natural gains.
	A lot of y'all that want to jump on this shit, you don't even sleep eight hours a night.
	You don't train properly.
	You're not getting adequate volume in.
	You're not even getting enough protein in.
	You don't have your lifestyle in check in the first place where...
	You know, you even deserve to go ahead and use this stuff.
	So maximize your natural gains first before you even think about that stuff.
	There's no easy way out, guys.
	Stop being lazy.
	All right?
	That's what it really comes down to.
	That's why I talked with Fresh.
	I told him, no, bro.
	Like, what the fuck are you talking about, TRT? And I get like, no.
	You haven't even optimized your natural potential yet.
	You know?
	Until you're training in the gym for five years, straight, no breaks, maximize your natural potential, you're sleeping eight to ten hours a night, you're drinking enough water, you're pissing clear all day, you're getting enough protein, you're eating vegetables and fruits, you're getting your micronutrients in as well as your macronutrients in, and you're optimizing everything...
	Then you could think about even entertaining the situation, but most of y'all can't even do that for five years.
	Big facts.
	So don't even bother.
	You haven't earned the privilege of using a gear yet.
	But I tell y'all stay natural, man, as long as you can.
	Gear one!
	Yeah, man, it's not worth it.
	Got a complaint from my building because someone took a picture of the FNF podcast on my 72-inch TV through my window and make it make sense.
	Wait, what?
	No way.
	What?
	You capping, nigga.
	That's a little too detailed to be capping.
	Why would they care?
	On my 72-inch TV? Because I guess they were able to see it.
	No, but why would they care about a 10-inch TV show?
	That makes no sense.
	That makes no sense.
	Come again.
	Yo, what the fuck, bro?
	I need a writing.
	That's impossible.
	Love y'all, man.
	I believe him.
	Homie.
	Yeah, I got it.
	That's a little too detailed.
	I don't believe him.
	Mil rep range should...
	Because that means he can sue them for privacy reasons.
	Because they're...
	So, for example, if it's in his unit, whatever happens in there is his problem.
	So, for him to care that much about what he's watching...
	That is weird.
	It's weird for building actually to care what he's watching.
	Who knows, bro?
	Some of these buildings got Nazi rules, man.
	Nah, bro.
	Thanks so much.
	Yeah, I appreciate that, man.
	I got some haters saying I'm wearing a wig or hair plugs and I'm like, what the fuck, bro?
	I didn't endure a hair transplant surgery.
	For all this shit, man.
	Yeah, I could talk to you guys about how I got my waves.
	If you guys are really serious for it and there's a demand for it, maybe I'll do a whole episode on how to get waves.
	But yeah, it was a process.
	I ain't gonna lie to y'all.
	But if you do the process, you can get them pretty quickly.
	Lionel Orbion, what if you have 0% body fat?
	Would you go about gaining weight?
	Impossible if you have 0% body fat, bro.
	You'd be dead, right?
	Yeah, you'd pretty much be dead.
	When is the optimal time of day to exercise?
	Optimal day is when you feel the best and you can go to the gym and be consistent.
	How important is sleep and how much is required, especially for a person that is on call for work very often?
	Bro, sleep is probably the most underrated thing.
	You guys want to talk about TRT and getting on steroids?
	Sleep is steroids.
	Eight to ten hours a night, ninjas.
	Okay?
	8 to 10 hours a night, especially if you're training in the gym pretty hard, you're going to need that rest.
	What is the best product to heal soreness quickly to work out again?
	That just comes down to your training capacity and eating well and resting adequately.
	But it's very difficult to avoid DOMS. Does training legs actually increase testosterone?
	Training your whole body does, my friend.
	Various layers.
	Have a great day, gentlemen.
	Happy New Year, and keep up the great work.
	Let's go.
	Shout out to you, layers.
	Shout out to various layers.
	We caught up?
	Alright, and we got Mike Nutz.
	You gotta be like water and run through these hoes.
	Fair enough, man.
	Y'all are hilarious.
	What else here?
	That's it.
	We got it.
	FNF. Oh, yeah.
	So, yeah, guys.
	FNFreached at gmail.com if you guys want to reach out to us, business inquiries or whatever it may be.
	Let's see here.
	Yeah.
	And I hope you guys enjoyed that IRL stream.
	Y'all are loving it.
	It's racking up views.
	You know, we're trying to really innovate here and try some different shit.
	But we're going to definitely do some more.
	I think Wednesday we got an episode planned for y'all.
	And then Friday I got a special guest coming.
	There you go.
	For After Hours.
	It's going to be a debate, probably.
	And it's going to be someone that you guys wouldn't think that we would side with.
	But it'll be very interesting.
	It's going to switch it up a little bit.
	Good.
	So we got some heat coming for you guys.
	And then I'm thinking, Bills, we'll run Operation IRL Stream for the people Next week, I'm thinking?
	Next Friday?
	Yeah, it's whenever you're ready.
	Yeah.
	I was going to do it this Friday, but we got a special guest.
	But I'm thinking next Friday we'll do it.
	I think you guys are really going to enjoy it.
	But yesterday's goal was to run the IRL stream, see how we could do it.
	When we came back, me, Mo, and Bills actually had a meeting on what equipment we need to get to really optimize it.
	You guys gave us some fantastic feedback.
	I know that we had some white noise or whatever.
	We fixed it at the end of the stream.
	We just got to figure it out with a Zoom.
	But somebody sent me a suggestion to mute one of the channels.
	What the hell is it called?
	The Zoom P4 or some shit?
	Yeah.
	So, mute the other channels.
	So, we'll try that as well, guys.
	We did try that.
	Oh, did you mute the other channels while we were there?
	Yeah, we normally turn them off.
	Oh, we're still getting the white noise?
	Shit.
	Yeah, I tried that there and even before I was doing the pre-test.
	What's the name of this goddamn thing?
	It's called the Zoom what?
	Zoom something.
	I don't even really know.
	Like a P4 or some shit?
	It's that one that like...
	It's like a mobile interface.
	Bills and Mo are audio engineers, bro.
	They're kind of above that bullshit equipment.
	That Zoom, we don't use it.
	We're trying to figure out how to get it where it doesn't have a white noise.
	If any of y'all know, they should just DM you Bills, right?
	Yeah, you go ahead and DM me on Instagram if you have any tips or tricks.
	Yeah, it's a Zoom.
	I'll find it right now.
	I could grab it from the backpack.
	You can if you want, yeah.
	You want me to do that?
	Yeah, go ahead.
	Just get it.
	Fuck it, man.
	You got to catch your chat anyway.
	Yeah, all right.
	Fresh, you going to read the chat?
	Let's do it.
	All right, one second.
	And like the video, by the way.
	Comment, share, subscribe.
	There you go.
	This was a good stream.
	WGuess.
	We'll do a part two.
	WCEO Network.
	CEO Network.
	Damn, I think we got a little more chats than I thought.
	We got like three.
	Okay.
	Alright, cool.
	We'll start right here.
	Bobby says, I agree that a woman should never divorce her husband, regardless of how happy she is or how hard life gets.
	However, do you think she should leave if a man is committing self-destructive behavior, like being an alcoholic or gambling, for example?
	Yeah, leave.
	I was saying, I think if your guy is doing drugs or doing crazy shit like that, like, yeah, man, I mean.
	Yeah.
	Obviously speaking, if that was your daughter, of course, you wanted to leave, you wouldn't want her in that spot.
	Even though he's taking care of her, that type of behavior will either hurt her or kill her.
	So definitely speaking, I would get out.
	Yeah, get out.
	And then actually, you know, some guys actually, you know, they don't see, a lot of guys don't wake up until their girl leaves them.
	So it might be better for them anyway.
	Hopefully.
	Yeah, but ladies, for the ladies that watch the podcast, I know we give a lot of advice to guys.
	For women too, bro.
	Like, yo, we tell y'all don't get with girls that do drugs.
	Women too.
	All the ladies that are watching, don't get with no fucking guy that has a gambling problem or does drugs or is involved in criminal activity.
	Like, don't do it, man.
	Because your safety and your security is dependent on this individual.
	They're supposed to be your leader.
	So...
	For the girls, man.
	Like, stop dealing with these fucking degenerates to be your boyfriends.
	And God forgive them.
	You give them a baby.
	Yeah, bro.
	Like, come on, ladies.
	Be smart, man.
	We give a lot of sauce to the guys, but, you know, we're going to give you some sauce, too.
	Like, stop being with fucking idiots that do drugs and shit.
	Or alcoholics or gamblers.
	Like, they're going to fuck your life up, too.
	This is what it is.
	It's called the Zoom.
	P4. P4, guys.
	PodTrack.
	PodTrack.
	So if any of y'all know how to get rid of white noise on this shit, message bills on...
	It's JBills.
	Yeah, at JBills.
	We got another one that we're using that's better than this one, but we like to have options.
	We like to have multiple interfaces.
	We're kind of running a...
	I ain't gonna lie.
	We're running a little bit of a complex IRL stream setup, but we're doing it because what I have in mind of what we want to do is gonna...
	It kind of requires it.
	So...
	But...
	Yeah, fuck that shit.
	It's annoying.
	Someone else might know how to use that bullshit though.
	We like our first option though.
	Yeah, the other one is good.
	Yes.
	But it's good to always have two.
	Relationship question.
	Girlfriend of two years just replaced on Coke and was recently texting her friend about lusting over a co-worker at first live but came clean.
	That was extremely remorseful.
	Can a woman redeem or change herself?
	Man, why do you have to...
	No!
	This problem, right?
	Why do I have to fix her?
	Why do I have to actually wait for her to change her bad behavior?
	And he said relapsed.
	Keyword, relapsed.
	So she had the problem before.
	What do we tell y'all niggas on this podcast?
	A girl's a sex worker.
	She does drugs.
	She's hot, bro.
	Sex is great.
	I'm gonna stay and figure shit out.
	We told you, nigga.
	Bro, the key word is, you said, relapsed.
	Yeah, bro.
	So that means that she used to have a problem before.
	Yeah.
	I tell y'all all the time, bro.
	Girls that used to be sex workers or girls that used to do drugs almost always go back to what they know.
	Just don't take them seriously, bro.
	See, the problem is, they be wifing them up.
	Yeah.
	Just have some fun, bro.
	Yeah, man.
	What's wrong with y'all niggas, man?
	Like, bro, like, do you niggas not, like, okay, you know what?
	I'll use myself as a fucking example, all right?
	Like, yo, let's go rewind to last night.
	What?
	When I meet a girl, right, I'm talking to her, I'm asking certain questions, and I'm listening very intently.
	If she reveals anything that is what I would consider a wife deal breaker, mental instability, former drug use, alcoholism, doing some thought activities, whatever...
	I automatically in my mind put her in the sex only category and she never leaves that category.
	She belongs to the streets.
	I need you motherfuckers to be the same exact way.
	The problem with you guys is you guys meet a girl and you think I can change her.
	I meet a girl, I accept her for what the fuck she is and I put her in a certain category and act accordingly.
	Stop thinking you're going to change these girls.
	Literally, every girl I met yesterday, while we were there on the yacht, I was like, I would never wife none of these bitches.
	But you know what?
	I can have some fun with them.
	And I just put them in that category.
	So, whether I close or I don't with them, it doesn't matter.
	Because they were in the streets category already.
	But a lot of y'all meet these fucking girls, put them in the, she could be the one category, even though she gave you a bunch of red flags.
	And then you get attached to her because you put her in that fucking category where she has the ability to get you attached.
	And then your dumb ass is over here sending us a message later on.
	Yo, she relaps on cocaine.
	Nigga, why do you even wife her in the first place knowing that she used cocaine?
	The fuck is wrong with y'all?
	Like, stop being simps, man.
	Stop it.
	Stop it!
	When you meet the girl, okay?
	Learn as much as you can about her and act the fucking corningly.
	If she tells you anything that's a disqualification, it's a disqualification.
	Done!
	She can't ever become a wife.
	But you motherfuckers think you could change them.
	You can't!
	Nine out of ten times.
	Alright?
	So just put her in the sex-only category and save yourself the fucking headache that you're dealing with now.
	Because now, you got a coked-up 304 that you thought changed, she didn't, your dumbass invested two years in her, and then you're over here wondering, asking us, yo, what should I do, bro?
	She realized, nigga, you should never been with her in the first place.
	So take that two years as a fucking L, you're a fucking dumbass, you deserve to get fucking ridiculed for this, because you wasted two years, wife and a girl that should never be wiped in the fucking first place, you retard.
	Alright?
	So take this goddamn L. And anybody else in the chat right now, don't laugh at him.
	Because a lot of y'all niggas are in the same goddamn fucking category.
	Wiping up these girls that should have never fucking been wiped up in the first place.
	Then y'all niggas come in and send us a super chat.
	Long ass message.
	Bro, but she does this or whatever.
	You should have never given her the opportunity to be in that situation in the first place.
	So you deserve the fucking L. You deserve to get your heart broken.
	You deserve to get made fun of.
	You deserve to get fucking finessed.
	Because you're the fucking retard that wiped up the wrong girl in the first place.
	What the fuck is wrong with y'all niggas, man?
	God damn!
	Bro, when you first meet them, put them in the correct category, and you will never deal with this problem ever fucking again.
	That's the best advice I could give to y'all niggas that want to sit here and cape for these hoes.
	Meet the girl, ask prodding questions, okay, obviously in a certain way so she doesn't catch on to you, and if she says hoeshit, done!
	That's it!
	Streets!
	Simple, man!
	Simple.
	Fuck!
	Twitch.
	Let's get off of Twitch.
	God fucking damn, bro.
	It's because like, yo, nothing pisses me off more than you fucking guys sitting here committing to fucking sluts, man.
	And then coming to me and saying, yo, what do I do?
	What do you mean what do you do?
	You fucked up!
	Big time!
	We should call it academics.
	Nick it.
	He said Nick it.
	Let's move on.
	Let's move on.
	Far6 says, thoughts on different types of protein, whey, iso, collagen, and Cas.
	We talked about that.
	Animal protein is all fairly similar.
	Hey boys, what do we think about the upcoming Black Swan event and what do you think it will be?
	Black Swan event?
	Probably like a financial crash of some kind.
	Oh.
	Well, I'll tell y'all ninjas this, it's not going to be real estate.
	Yeah.
	There's a housing shortage, even though everyone tries to tell you that it's going to be real estate.
	But in the residential world, especially with single-family homes, you're fine.
	In NYK, $200K in cash, looking to get my first property this year.
	What should I be looking for in ideal buying opportunities, assuming NY is out of my budget?
	Where should I be looking nearby?
	Look at Connecticut, look at New Jersey, Massachusetts maybe even.
	Or upstate New York.
	But yeah, you ain't gonna get shit for $200 in New York, bro.
	Yeah, bro.
	In New York City, at least.
	You're gonna have to be at least an hour plus away from the city to find anything.
	And maybe even more.
	You're gonna have to be in the boonies.
	Anything else?
	Yeah, we got one more.
	Just came in as I minimized it.
	Okay.
	One second.
	Shout out to all you ninjas, by the way, man.
	I am Jay Russell.
	Oh, we got him on the screen now.
	Yo, Big Mo, what's up, bro?
	I saw a while ago you mentioned SAE. That's me, alumni, SAE Hollywood.
	Just wanted to say, what's up?
	Also, Happy New Year.
	I'll look into that Zoom.
	I had a problem before.
	Okay.
	Oh, he had that problem, too.
	Yeah, bro.
	Like...
	Yeah, man.
	This shit pisses me off.
	And that is...
	I know him.
	He's a legit engineer as well.
	Yeah.
	So...
	Oh, Hukami dumped her.
	He said he already dumped her, by the way.
	But WRant, WFNN. Okay, man.
	I'll give you a dime for doing that.
	Good shit.
	Good shit.
	Be smarter next time, bro.
	Don't go back, though.
	Don't go back, nigga.
	Y'all niggas dumped him and then go back.
	Yeah, don't go back.
	Don't even fuck her, bro.
	Don't even do that.
	Because you guys get your emotions back.
	I'm glad that you broke up with her.
	Shout out to you.
	W for you, man.
	Just, bro, just be smarter, man.
	When girls give you disqualifying admissions, don't fucking wife them, bro.
	You know?
	Just don't wife them.
	You know, you go to, you know, you want to be a police officer, you admit on there that you committed a felony, they disqualify you from the process.
	Sorry, but you're not a candidate with us anymore.
	Same situation, bro.
	Come on, man.
	Start putting some prestige on your goddamn names, guys.
	Happy Haitian Independence Day, Mo.
	And that's from Edgar Reyes.
	Happy Haitian Independence Day, suck up fit.
	Alright.
	So, guys, I think this was a fucking awesome episode.
	I hope you guys enjoyed that interview with me.
	Oh, one more?
	Okay.
	In your opinion, does a chick who goes to uni exclude...
	What?
	Exclude from being white material?
	No.
	No, bro.
	That doesn't.
	But if she's a whore in college, that's different.
	Evening, guys.
	Rickle busy during the summer of May-October or is only busy during high season and winter?
	It starts getting busy in October.
	That's when the people from the north start coming down here because it starts to get colder there.
	So late fall, it picks up.
	And it goes all the way into the spring.
	PrettyKing77, why is it important to sleep to lose weight besides just not eating in time?
	Doesn't that mean you can stay awake and not eat to get the same results?
	No, bro.
	Sleep has to do more with recovering from the training so that you can actually feel better, so you can train harder.
	Awesome.
	That's great, Jeremiah.
	And I totally agree with you about TRT and peptides.
	I'm the one who chatted the question earlier.
	I think it's something people do who want to skip the steps.
	But with that, you don't get any of the discipline nor build the mental fortitude.
	Exactly.
	You have to do the work because game recognize game.
	And when you are real ones, they will know.
	Absolutely, my friend.
	You got it and hit the nail on the head.
	Man, we got a high IQ audience, man.
	I mean, a 2% body fat percentage, how would you go about gaining weight and muscle?
	Number one, you are not 2% body fat, bro, because if you were 2% body fat, you would be dead.
	Just to give you guys a glimpse, guys that are stepping on stage to compete in bodybuilding for Mr.
	Olympia, they're stepping on stage at about 5% to 7%.
	So you definitely ain't at no 2%, bro.
	Okay.
	Anything else?
	One last one.
	Last one here.
	TubeSot goes, Happy New Year.
	Question for you, Myron.
	And what order is the best way to start getting better at attracting women?
	Money status, looks, suave, etc.
	Thank you for your help and honesty.
	For the record, I'm 30 years old and kind of starting late here.
	You got to work on all of them, bro.
	You ain't got time to waste.
	You've got to work on your money.
	You can work on your money while still working on your looks, going to the gym and improving your aesthetics in general.
	And then, obviously, on the weekends, go out, talk to some girls, work on your robo game, and don't be a weirdo.
	And then, guys, no After Hours tonight because it's New Year's Day and, you know, 304s with their families are hungover.
	So we'll be back on Wednesday.
	I'm going to give you a two-parter.
	We're going to have a Womanizer Wednesday.
	And then we're also going to do After Hours there.
	And then we might actually give you all an IRL stream, too, maybe after that.
	Have dinner with you guys after the show.
	Cool.
	But today, we're going to just do this show, give you guys a bunch of value.
	I want you guys to really take this in.
	The timestamps are going to be up, and we're just going to recalibrate some stuff in the backpack and stuff like that.
	And yeah, anything you guys got before we...
	That's it for me.
	Man, I love y'all ninjas, man.
	Share this video with a friend, bro.
	This was a lit episode.
	Know it gives you guys more value than Fresh Fit.
	Number one best podcast in the world.
	We love y'all.
	We'll be back.
	On Wednesday, give you guys a two-parter.
	We might even give you a three-parter now that we finally got the IRL backpack ready to go with dinner as well to make up for this lack of after hours tonight.
	But, you know, it is what it is.
	304 has got to have families and be hungover and shit too.
	So, happy new year, guys.
	Peace!
	Peace!

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